| Location |
|
 |
The observatory is located in France, Normandy, about 10
miles from the
city of Caen. The view towards south horizon is clear, with only a few
distant trees and no city lights.
The only problem is the weather, with not so many clear sky nights per
year...
|
Telescope |
|
 |
The Centurion 18" is a very fast F2.8 telescope,
designed for the small area size of CCD chips. It is attached to an ST8E
CCD camera. Telescope, camera and dome
are fully under computer control. |
|
Dome |
|
 |
I use a 10' dome from Technical
Innovations mounted on
a circular concrete wall. Dome opening and rotation are
motorized. The PC constantly monitors the telescope r.a. dec coordinates
and, together with time, latitude and longitude informations transforms
them into dome azimuth position. Dome position accuracy is about
2°.
more about dome
construction... |
 |
Switches are implemented on the dome opening slot, so
that the PC can monitor when the dome is fully opened or fully
closed. |
 |
Dome rotation is monitored by the PC by receiving impulses
from the dome motors. A switch is also implemented to detect the dome home
position. |
|
Centurion 18" polar alignment |
|
 |
This is a permanent polar alignment. The telescope latitude
adjustment is done using screws on the telescope legs |
 |
The telescope is mounted on a very strong piece of wood,
which rests on the floor concrete. The piece of wood can be adjusted in
rotation providing telescope azimuth adjustment.
The polar adjustment has been carried out using long term declination
drift of stars close to the South and East equator. |
|
ST8E Camera |
|
 |
The ST8E camera (1536 x 1020 16 bit pixels) has two stage
cooling and additional water cooling.
The camera is attached to a CFW8 filter wheel. I typically operate the
camera at -20°C. The optical configuration is fixed, which allows for a
single set of flat field frames. Field of view is about 35' x 23', with a
pixel sampling of 1.4 arc sec. |
|
Remote operation |
|
 |
Telescope, dome and CCD camera are operated from a P4 2GHz
PC running under Windows 2000, which I also use for image processing.
Focusing is controlled by the little box between the PC and the screen.
I developped specific control software, with scripting possibilities.
It is possible to setup an automatic night observation session. When the
session is finished, or if clouds (or rain...) come in, then hopefully the dome will
close and the telescope and CCD will power off. |
