As part of the GCSE Astronomy course, students must complete an aided observation.
The use of robotic telescopes is both acceptable and encouraged by Edexcel.
An increasing amount of professional astronomy is now carried out using robotic telescopes that do not have an observer or operator at the actual telescope site.
To support your students:
- Go Observing: Our Go Observing system allows students to take suitable observations using robotic telescopes. Watch our video guide for detailed instructions.
- Using our telescopes: Learn how to get your students started using our telescopes.
- Approved Observational Tasks: We provide projects for students to follow, that fulfill requirements set out in the list of approved Observational Tasks B1 and B11:
For further guidance, view our short online CPD session on using the Liverpool Telescope for these tasks.
- Resources
We provide a range of information and activities to support students in learning, understanding, and revising the topics covered in the GCSE Astronomy specification. These resources support students to design, make, analyse, and evaluate unaided observations.
- Paper 1: Naked-eye Astronomy
- Paper 2: Telescopic Astronomy
We provide workshops to support teaching topics in Paper 2 and including the use of mathematics:
- Sunspot data - understand the solar cycle
- Kepler's Laws - how they relate to the Solar System, and also exoplanets