Introduction
The St. Louis Library Telescope "Educator Program" is designed with educators in mind. In this pilot program, eighteen telescopes have been set aside for exclusive checkout out by K-12 educators. The telescopes can be checked out for a specific week. Both day-time and night time telescope are available.
1) Night-time telescope (for viewing planets and stars)
In addition to the Orion StarBlast 4.5" Reflector telescopes available to the general public for night-time viewing, the St. Louis program has set aside an additional five night-time telescopes for exclusive checkout by K-12 educators. The exclusive checkout program allows educators to reserve the telescope for a specific week and know the telescope will be available.
2) Daytime telescope (for safe viewing of the Sun)
In order to make "day-time" telescopes available to educators, thirteen SunSpotter Solar Telescopes were added to the St. Louis Telescope Program just in time for the historic August 21, 2017 Total Solar Eclipse.
“Sunspotter” telescopes are instruments used exclusively for viewing the Sun. They employ a small refracting telescope and a set of mirrors to project an image of the Sun safely, onto a white screen within the telescope. Several persons can view the image at a time. The telescopes display solar surface features such as sunspots on any clear day. They will also show the progress of the Moon’s shadow on the Sun during the partial eclipse phases on August 21. The eclipse path enters the United States in Oregon, continues through several states including Missouri and Illinois, and exits the country in South Carolina before ending over the Atlantic Ocean. the country in South Carolina before ending over the Atlantic Ocean.
Similar to the general public checkout program, the educator telescope checkout period is seven days. Educators must be age eighteen-years or older with a valid library card and have identification proving they are actively employed as an educator in a public, private or parochial school. An information package provided with each telescope contains directions about the operation of the instrument as well as instructions for several activities related to the Sun, solar eclipses and the night sky.
Availability by location
Educator Program - Missouri (10 telescopes)
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De Soto Public Library (Jefferson County)
De Soto Public Library has 1 Sunspotter Solar (daytime) telescope assigned to the Educator Program.
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Ferguson Public Library (St. Louis County)
Ferguson Public Library has 1 Sunspotter Solar (daytime) telescope assigned to the Educator Program.
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Festus Public Library (Jefferson County)
Festus Public Library has 1 Sunspotter Solar (daytime) telescope assigned to the Educator Program.
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Jefferson County Library (Jefferson County)
Jefferson County Library has 1 Sunspotter Solar (daytime) telescope assigned to the Educator Checkout program.
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St. Charles City-County Library (St. Charles County)
St. Charles City County Library has 2 telescopes assigned to the Educator Program including 1 Orion StarBlast 4.5 (night time) telescope and 1 Sunspotter Solar (daytime) telescope.
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St. Louis Public Library (St. Louis City)
St. Louis Public Library has 3 Sunspotter Solar (daytime) telescopes assigned to the program.
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University City Public Library (St. Louis County)
University City Library has 1 Orion StarBlast 4.5 (night time) telescope assigned to the Educator Program