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Slooh

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Bill shannon 2001 (talk | contribs) at 00:45, 29 April 2007. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Slooh is a commerical robotic telescope service that can be viewed live through any computer with a simple browser and a Flash plug-in. Service is available to people who pay subscriptions.

The name Slooh comes from the word "slew" to indicate a movement of a telescope. But since the service wants to give users a big user experience, it has been changed to Slooh, where the "ooh" is used to express pleasure, satisfaction, surprise, or great joy.

The observatory is located on the island Tenerife, of the Canary Islands, on the volcano called Teide. The site is at 3.5 km elevation and far from city light pollution.

There are 2 domes, each with 2 telescopes. Each dome has a high magnification telescope and one has a wide field telescope. The difference between the two domes is that one dome is optimized for planetary views (e.g. more magnification different CCD) and the other for deep sky objects (e.g. less magnification, more light sensitive CCD). One dome is under the operation of the astronomers of the observatory, while the other is available for amateurs to reserve and guide. This function alternates nightly between the two domes.

Slooh is used by some serious astronomers for research, as well as beginner astronomers. David Levy, renowned comet hunter. discovered Comet C/2006 T1 in October, 2006, marking his twenty-second find. Levy discovered this comet while observing Saturn through one of Slooh's Canary Island telescopes.


As of March 2007 Slooh has a second observatory under construction in the hills above La Dehesa, Chile. This second site will offer southern hemisphere views, extended nightly coverage, and a second chance to escape poor weather.