Schools and groups

Shared observing for organised groups

A group account lets a school class, an astronomy club or a community group share observing time under one approved account, managed by the people responsible for it.

What a group account gives you

• One account that several named people can work from, each with their own sign-in.
• A group observing entitlement that a manager controls and assigns.
• Files that belong to the group rather than to whoever happened to book.
• A single point of contact for support.

What it does not give you

Adding more members does not multiply your observing time. A group holds one observing entitlement by default, exactly as an individual does, and an administrator can raise it where there is a good reason. This keeps telescope time shared fairly rather than going to whoever signs up the most people.

Applying

Apply from your account. Tell us who you are, what you teach or organise, roughly how many people will take part, and what you want to do with the time. An administrator reviews every application by hand, so expect a few days rather than a few minutes.

Students under 18

We are still settling the lawful basis for registering children directly, and we will not guess at it. For now, a group is managed by adults who hold the accounts, and student sign-up is not open. We would rather say this plainly than launch something we have not thought through.