Master Your Unistellar Telescope & Do Science That Matters - Winter 2027

Saturdays Jan 23, Feb 6, Feb 20, Mar 6, Mar 20
10am–1pm Pacific / 1pm–4pm Eastern
Recordings of all sessions will be available for all registrants.

Earlybird Registration through December 31: $199

Regular Registration 1/1-1/23: $249

Your Unistellar telescope can capture extraordinary images — this workshop shows you how to turn those images into scientific discoveries. Designed for new and experienced Unistellar owners, this five-part series goes well beyond “how to use your telescope.” You’ll learn how astronomers interpret light, analyze brightness and color, and uncover the physics behind nebulae, star clusters, variable stars, and exoplanets. No prior astronomy experience required. This workshop is the same content as the fall 2025, and winter 2026 versions.

Note: This is not an astrophotography or telescope-operations course. It is a hands-on introduction to scientific data analysis using your own Unistellar observations.

What You’ll Learn

Across five interactive sessions led by astronomers from the Astro Society and Unistellar, you’ll explore:

    •    How stars form, evolve, and vary in brightness

    •    How nebulae and supernova remnants reveal their structure through light

    •    How exoplanets produce subtle dips in starlight

    •    How astronomers extract insight from pixels, color channels, and time-series data

Using Julia and Pluto notebooks, the same modern tools astronomers use, you’ll analyze real Unistellar FITS files and quantify your observations like a scientist.

What You’ll Do

    •   Load and explore Unistellar data

    •   Run interactive Pluto notebooks

    •   Perform differential photometry

    •   Build and interpret light curves

    •   Contribute observations to global citizen-science campaigns

Community & Support

All participants receive access to the Unistellar Slack workspace — a global community where observers share results, ask questions, and collaborate. Weekly office hours with instructors offer one-on-one help with data analysis, notebook workflows, and science targets.

Technical Setup

Before Session 1, you’ll install Julia and Pluto notebooks. A guided setup document and optional Install Clinic are provided. No coding experience required. Participants in the previous cohorts successfully installed everything even if they had never used scientific software before.

Attendance/Refund Policy

Live attendance is strongly encouraged and expected in order to get the most out of the interactive session. A recording of each workshop will be available for those who cannot attend live or who would like to review the content. Refunds only for extenuating circumstances. If you need to cancel please email [email protected].