astrophotography for kids

bungaro79

hi
last year i started a STEM after school club (www.stemacademy.ie) in the school i teach in. i've been trying to give our lads exposure to as many different sections of the STEM areas with a real hands on experience. astronomy is something i've always had an interest in and a trip to blackrock castle last year really piqued the lads (and my!) interests in outer space!

so i'm currently trying to secure sponsorship and looking into buying a telescope but after seeing some of the photos on here i think that astrophotography would be something that they would absolutely love! would it be possible to show the lads the basics and then give them the kit to try and photography things themselves?? a big thing with the club is to try and do things for themselves (with a little help obviously) and since they would have to take the stuff home with adult supervision is it something that a 6th class student could do??

so if this is a runner what would i actually need?? budget will be a big thing but i would prefer to buy something that will last and not just the cheapest. if anyone has any advice it would be greatly appreciated!

thanks

mickmackey1

Well I think your best bet is the above-mentioned Blackrock castle, I know they do great workshops etc for kids so would have loads of advice regarding equipment, projects and so forth.

How many clear nights they will get to try out their skills is a different story though

murphyme2010

Have a look here.

There are one or two ideas for astronomy related projects for children.

rolion

@bungaro79

A very great decent and appreciated idea...

I looked as well in to same thing myself, few week ago.
Unfortunately, the issues concerning the child welfare, as seen by todays stupid and crazy legislation stop me from bringing forward any real advance of the plan.

Imagine yourself scheduling a night out session...nice sky, weather and all equipment setup already, ready for action. Like we don't have it for the past few good weeks here...
But...where are the kids ?? Who brings them ? Parents ? Forget it... Who drops them back ? Parents !? Forget it again... Collection / Dropping time ?
If you bring with your own car, it needs to be insured and another adult inside the car. Do you have insurance for those kids on your car?

Then, what if you touch them while observing ? Not allowed physical contact and you cannot be alone with them anywhere under no circumstances without another adult !! Then, how do you split / manage the issues with observing time, sessions, ownership of the equipment, sharing, bad coughing after long nightly sessions / rain/weather ? ...

And believe me... all above are for YOUR own protection against law.

Budget to purchase the equipment, if the kids have done the basic study ,in the class, varies from €500 up to thousands.
I suggest asking the Principal for a funds race, grant allocation and/or contact the Parents Association and work with them for a "donation" from their budget.
Also, you can setup the club, get a "nice" section on the school website / school blog and ask the members to contribute with 50-100 for each. Ask the School BoM to approve it and to send it by letter to each child's parent interested in participating. Do not do it on your own name...and without get it the school BoM involved.

Ask for a "grant" of around €3,000 to make sure you will get €2,000.
That will get you started with 2 scopes, few eye pieces and one USB camera or a second-hand DSLR from online sites locally here.
You will need a laptops as well.

Ask some companies to sponsor you as that comes tax free for them.

As a friendly advice....please please do not buy cheap and low performed equipment hoping that "next year" you will upgrade.
You will never sell them as most people says and if you manage to sell them, it will bring a huge loss.
Go for the best money can do without compromising, quality over quantity.
Also, the children will soon and very fast will realise that the scope is crap, losing the interest in to it. If you have one low and one good, they will abandon the low one for the better one completely. Get same pieces of equipment.

Anyway, I can assist if you are around D15 anytime with anything !
I have all the equipment ready to go ...
Have fun...

bungaro79

thanks for the replies, its still only something in the planning process but the more i look at the photos people took on here the more i think that its something that they would love!! the cost though will be a big factor on whether it goes ahead unless i can get them sponsored, even though we have lots of big pharmaceuticals in the area they seem to be tight with the sponsorship cash.

@ rollion
yeah the plan would be to just give it to individuals as even though i would be up for a night session but like you mentioned there is a lot of other considerations. sure we know the story from even taking them to primary school games. do you know that ktelescopes you mentioned for sponsorship?? astronomy ireland were the only crowd i'd heard of in this industry!