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Faulkes Telescope Project Privacy Policy
Queue or RTI – Which one for me?
There are 2 ways in which you can gather data using the LCO telescopes with the Faulkes Telescope Project – queue mode or Real-Time Interface (RTI) mode. They each have their advantages and disadvantages and there are many reasons why you may wish to choose one method over another for observing. In the table below we compare each mode to help you decide which is best for you and the project you are working on.
| Queue Mode | Real-time Mode | |
|---|---|---|
| Suitable for: | Intermediate/Advanced users - there are 2 interfaces to the queue - basic and advanced. You can choose which one you see from your profile options. | Beginners - the design of the RTI makes this the simplest way of observing with the telescopes. |
| Weather | Does not rely on weather at a particular site - observations will be scheduled on any site with clear conditions. | Relies on the telescope site being open and with clear weather conditions at the time and date of your assigned session. |
| Efficiency | Time efficient – you request your targets to be observed and let the scheduler carry out the observations in conjunction with other requests | Time inefficient – you only have 30 minutes to take all your observations, including the time it takes to slew to the targets. |
| Ease of use | There are two modes for queue-scheduled observations. Basic mode requires perhaps eight boxes to be filled (e.g. filter, exposure time, etc.) whereas advanced mode gives more options and flexibility. | RTI is a gentle introduction to observing with a limited number of options available to the user. It provides the user with options for targets only displaying those visible at the time of observing. |
| Engagement for pupils | The queue mode can appear quite complicated, and has no real-time engagement for pupils. | Has the ‘Wow!’ impact factor when watching the telescope move and your images come in. |
| Ease of observing moving objects e.g. asteroids/comets | It can be quite complicated to schedule observations of moving objects for a time window. | It is easy to observe a moving object with the RTI if you know its coordinates at the time/date of your assigned session. |
| Copying requests for images | Maybe you wish to change exposure times or take another image to see how an object has changed - it is easy to save a draft and copy a request for an observation in queue mode. | You have to wait for the current observation to be taken before submitting a new one via the real-time mode. |
| Transient objects (objects that change in appearance over time) | If an object changes over a small time frame (minutes, hours), you can schedule multiple observations with the queue mode. | If an object changes over a small time frame, it is unlikely you will be able to book enough real-time observing slots. |
| Designated lesson time. | The queue mode can be accessed at any time. | Real time slots are only available at specific times of the week, so may not be suitable if you have a lesson at 1 PM for example. |
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