Useful links:

Starfront Observatories Clear Sky Chart - the most up-to-date weather forecast. 

Starfront Observatories - Observatory Status - observatory status; our telescope is located in Building 3. 

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1. The Mount: Software Bisque Paramount MyT

• The Paramount MyT serves as the cornerstone of our system. This robust and precise equatorial mount ensures smooth and accurate tracking of celestial objects as they move across the sky. For our system, the recommended maximum unguided exposure time is ~300s.
   

2. The Telescope: Takahashi FSQ106EDXIV

• Aperture: 106mm

• Focal Length: 530mm

• This telescope is a wide-field imaging astrograph. The Takahashi FSQ106EDXIV offers exceptional optical quality, delivering sharp, vibrant images with minimal distortions.
   

3. The Camera: ZWO ASI 2600MM Pro with Filter Wheel

• Pixel Size: 3.76 micrometers (resolution: 1.464 arcseconds per pixel)

• Readout Noise: ~1.5 electrons

• Dark Current: ~0.008 electrons/second/pixel

• Full-Well Capacity: ~17,000 electrons

The ZWO ASI 2600MM Pro, paired with an Electronic Filter Wheel (EFW). Its highly sensitive monochrome sensor can record faint celestial objects while maintaining low noise levels. The statistics above are provided at Gain = 100, Offset = 10, and Sensor Temperature = -10C.

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4. The Filters

• Filter Types:

  • Luminance (L)

  • Red (R), Green (G), Blue (B)

  • Narrowband: Hydrogen-alpha (Hα), Sulfur II (SII), Oxygen III (OIII)

All narrowband filters have a Full-Width Half Maximum (FWHM) of ~3nm.

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5. Field of View

Our setup excels at wide-field imaging with a field of view of 2.539° x 1.697°. This allows us to photograph expansive celestial objects in one frame and conduct large-field surveys.

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6. Guiding System

• Guide Scope: ZWO OAG-L (Off-Axis Guider)

• Guide Camera: ZWO ASI 120MM-Mini

With an off-axis guider, the guiding is done at a focal length of 530mm.

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7. Focuser and Camera Rotator: Moonlite NiteCrawler WR35