Real telescopes for real classrooms.
Your students plan an observation, a research-grade telescope under dark skies captures it, and the class works with the real data the next morning. No equipment, no late nights, no cloudy-school-night disappointment.
From lesson plan to real data.
Telescopes on Celestarray are in both hemispheres and many time zones, so there's almost always one in darkness during school hours.
- Students choose targets with the free Planner: when is it up, how high, where's the Moon?
- You book the session; we help the first time
- The host's observatory captures the target, often while it's daytime at your school
- Your class downloads the images and full-resolution data to measure, process and present
Plan
Students pick a target and a time using live sky data.
Book
You book a session at an educator rate.
Observe
A real telescope captures it under dark skies.
Discover
The class analyses its own data, not a textbook photo.
Built around what you already teach.
Earth and Space Systems: Space
Technologies used to explore space, such as telescopes; the Moon, planets and stars. Students plan and request a real observation and see the technology at work.
Strand E: Space Exploration
Investigate the technology of space exploration and its impact. Students operate a remote observatory, a working example of the tools the strand covers.
Data analysis and research skills
Calibrate, measure and model real FITS data: photometry, astrometry and light curves, including NASA citizen-science projects.
Check the Ministry of Education's current curriculum documents for exact expectations. We're happy to help map an activity to your course.
Activities that work with one booking.
Measure the Moon
Find crater sizes and mountain heights from shadows, using the telescope's known image scale.
Moon · 30 minJupiter's moons move
Two short sessions a few hours apart show the Galilean moons changing position. Estimate their orbits like Galileo did.
Planets · 2 × 30 minWhat colour is a star?
Colour images of a star cluster reveal hot blue and cool red stars, which leads into stellar temperature and life cycles.
Deep sky · 1 hWhere stars are born
Image a nebula through colour filters and discuss what each element's light tells us.
Deep sky · 2 hCatch an exoplanet
Record a planet passing in front of its star, then plot the dip in brightness and submit it to NASA's Exoplanet Watch. Citizen science →
Deep sky · 2 to 4 hOur own Sun
Safe, filtered solar images showing sunspots that the class can track across several days.
Sun · 30 minBring Celestarray to a whole school board.
We work with school boards, museums, science centres, libraries and astronomy clubs on grant-funded programs: classroom packages, teacher workshops and student research projects.
- Educator rates and pre-paid classroom packages
- Teacher onboarding: we walk you through your first session
- Help writing the Celestarray portion of grant applications
- Shared student projects across several schools
Tell us about your class.
We'll reply within a few days with options and educator pricing for your group.
Prefer email? Use the contact page and choose Education.