It is no longer a dream for a Chinese student to use an astronomy telescope in the United States to observe the galaxy at home.

Just by connecting to the Hands-On Universe (HOU) program on the Internet, students can operate telescopes in the United States, but also in Japan, Australia, Germany, and Pakistan and can even use several telescopes at the same time.

It's all possible through the HOU program. From Monday to yesterday, Chinese scientists, educators, students and others who love astronomy gathered in Beijing for HOU's annual conference.

HOU began in the United States as the computer and Internet became the method for many astronomers to acquire and analyze data. It provides a platform for people worldwide to share the telescopes of many countries connected to the Internet, as well as the latest data.

Carl Pennypacker, a professional astronomer from the University of California-Berkeley in the United States, established the program. At first, it was only for professional observation and research.

"I have some friends of teachers. They suggested that we bring it to students, so we did," Pennypacker said. "Soon we had students discovering supernovae, asteroids, or perhaps most importantly, they discovered that they liked science and could actually do science."

Now more than 1,000 teachers from 15 nations are using HOU. China is a new member.

Guo Hongfeng, a senior engineer from the National Astronomical Observatories, got to know HOU from its conference last year in Russia. She found the program could be valuable if it spread to China.

"Any person who loves astronomy can benefit from the program," Guo said.

(China Daily August 5, 2005)