Review and the Future of a New Astronomical Observatory System through the Internet

An overview of an astronomical observatory system through the internet was showed. People had to go to an astronomical observatory until now. However people can enjoy the image of celestial body using this system. An internet TV-communication software called “Skype" was employed with this system. As it is free, what we need are a computer with internet, a camera and an NTSC-USB converter. On the 24th April in 2007, I connected this system between the observatory at Furano and the computer at Hokkaido University. Almost 100 people joined this event. The answer of a questionnaire to them showed that 68% of the people had no chance to go to an astronomical observatory before. I suppose that this kind of system will increase the chance to see the astronomical observatory in the near future