Registration

Thank you for your interest in The Schools' Observatory.

Registration is free, simple, and takes less than 5 minutes. You can then access all that we have to offer right away.  

You need to have an account to use the telescopes and have your observations sent back to you once they have been completed. We will never pass your data on to anyone else without your permission. 

There are 3 options to get started:

• If you are a teacher, trainee teacher or home educator,  Register as an Educator
• If you are a school or further education student:
  • If your teacher is registered, they can create a student account for you
  • Otherwise, you can  Register as an Explorer
• For anyone else, you can Register as an Explorer

We are a free education initiative aiming to break down the barriers young people face when engaging in science, technology, engineering, and maths (STEM). Therefore, we can only offer full access to those in education. 

We have free resources to help with teaching STEM in the classroom. Space builds a sense of excitement and wonder in learners of all ages. By tapping into this fascinating topic, we can further our knowledge while also showing the valuable applications of STEM in the real world. There is a focus on other important skills, such as using computers, communicating, and thinking critically.

Using large telescopes is the most striking feature of this website. Educators registered with us can access over 25 of these! There is the robotic Liverpool Telescope, on the island of La Palma, which is the world's largest of its kind. And the Las Cumbres Observatory network's 20+ robotic telescopes all around the world.

Once you have asked to use the telescope, log in to your account to see how your request is getting on. You can then get the data from your observations list when it comes back. We have special, easy-to-use software (made for learners and educators and free from this website) to study the images. You can make pictures or look closer and do some real science with the data.

The table below gives details about the different options available for registering - but all of them are free!

Once you've made an account, why not look at our support pages to help get you started.