Equipment

Only about Astrophotography!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The observatory is “almost” entirely remote-controlled from the house. The only activity that must be performed in the observatory is  removing/installing scope covers and dew shields.

The image acquisition activities (i.e. roof opening/closing, centering objects, focusing, auto guiding, etc.) can also be entirely automated. This allow the me to:

a) Launch an entire image acquisition session and not have to stay up until late in the night to close the roof, park the mount, etc.
b) Benefits from added comfort (i.e. Heat, humidity, cold, mosquitos).

I also installed a standing monitor/keyboard/mouse apparatus in order to make any software interventions when I am in the observatory.

 

Hardware

German Equatorial Mount
  • Celestron CGEM – Hypertuned
  • Retrofitted with OnStep Telescope Controller
Astrograph
  • Astro-Tech 8″ Ritchey Chretien
  • Orion ED80T CF – Triplet Apochromat
Motorized Focuser
  • Moonlite CS 2 inch Focuser with High Res stepper motor (Ritchey Chretien)
  • Moonlite CFL 2.5 inch Focuser with High Res stepper motor (Triplet Apochromat)
Field Flattener
  • SharpStar Field Flattener – 2.5″ (Triplet Apochromat)
Main Imaging Camera
  • SBIG ST-8300M : 8.3 megapixels monochrome
  • SBIG FW5-8300 : 5-Position, 36mm Filter Wheel
  • Baader LRGB + Ha + SII + OIII filters
Guide Scope
  • APM 60mm Image Master Guidescope
Guiding Camera
  • QHYCCD 1.2 megapixels monochrome QHY5L-II-M
Flat field illumination System
  • Home made “flat panel” illumination system
    • Series of LED on main OTA
    • White panel on observatory wall
Observatory Computer
  • Dell Optiplex 780 Windows 10. Used via Remote Desktop from the house.
Wired Network
  • Cisco Linksys E4200 used as a switch into main home network.
Power Supplies
  • 0-24V 20A Drok Power Supply for Mount (set to 24v)
  • Digital Loggers Web Power Switch to remotely control each individual outlets
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