While many think of Chile or Hawaii for world-class observatories, Finland's unique environment makes it a phenomenal location for both our Skymapper and Unistellar smart telescopes.
The Land of Endless Twilight and Breathtaking Dark Skies
Finland's high latitude is a game-changer for astronomy. During the long winter months, the country experiences extended periods of twilight and darkness, providing ample opportunity for deep-sky observation. The lack of light pollution in vast areas, especially in the northern Lapland region, means that the night sky is incredibly dark and pristine. This is crucial for viewing faint deep-sky objects like galaxies and nebulae, which would be lost in the glow of city lights.
Telescope enhanced vision technology, which electronically amplifies the light signal, thrives in these dark conditions, revealing details and colors in celestial objects that are often invisible to the naked eye.
Two of a kind:
Science Values its Community Astronomers
Our CEO, Franck Marchis, journeyed to Finland to explore the far reaches of our universe with two close friends and beta-testers of SkyMapper’s SkyBridge and SkyViewer technologies. Franck announced,
"We at SkyMapper are thrilled to collaborate with two Unistellar power users and citizen scientists in Finland, a country offering some of Earth's most pristine observing conditions."
These two citizen scientists, both named Petri, are part of a network of contributors dedicated to real-time astronomy. Their impactful track record of real-time astronomical contributions exemplifies the powerful impact of networked telescope collaboration on peer-reviewed astronomical research. Their invaluable contributions provide researchers with vast amounts of data that would otherwise be impossible to collect.
Invaluable Partners
SkyMapper's mission thrives on its partners' dedication. The individuals below, from professional scientists to citizen astronomers, demonstrate the vital role collaboration plays in real-time cosmic discovery, leveraging technology and shared passion.
Petri Tikkanen, member of Ursa Astronomical Association in Finland and a beta-tester for SkyMapper’s SkyBridge contributes to astronomy as a citizen astronomer, who actively participates in the Unistellar telescope network. He has contributed photometric data to research projects, including the confirmation of exoplanet transits and the study of comets like 103P/Hartley 2.
Click to see Petri T's research
Ariel Graykowski is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the SETI institute focused on astronomy of small bodies. She is the lead of Unistellar's comet campaign working with citizen scientists to monitor cometary activity.
Click to learn more about Ariel
Petr Pokorny is an astronomer who specializes in the tiny stuff floating around in space. He's passionate about figuring out where all the dust in our solar system comes from and where it goes, and develops computer models to show how dust rings around planets like Mercury and Venus form and how meteoroids hit airless bodies like the Moon and Ceres.
Click to learn more about Petr
Petri K is a citizen scientist who contributes to astronomy through his work with the Unistellar Network. He has co-authored peer-reviewed research papers and made observations of comets and exoplanet transits that are used in scientific research.
Click to learn more about Petri K
What’s happening in Finland is exactly what SkyMapper is about: community-powered astronomy backed by cutting-edge Web3 innovation. Each contribution, from comet monitoring to deep-sky exploration, adds to our decentralized map of the universe. The sky is no longer the limit, it’s our shared playground.
If you’re inspired to join our growing network of explorers and help map the cosmos in real time, we invite you to get involved today.
