Our observatory is primarily used visually for education and charity fund raising events. The observatory consists of a 10’ HomeDome housing a Meade 14” LX200GPS Schmidt-Cassegrain catadioptric telescope (instruction manual). A goal is to eventually remotely control the observatory via TheSky6 software. 

Other instruments and accessories include:

1. • Coronado 90mm 0.7 angstrom Hydrogen Alpha filter
   

2. • Sky90 Fluorite Refractor on a GEM
   

3. • Photometrics CH350 CCD camera with a glycol cooled to -40 megapixel (1024x1024x24 micron) SITe backthinned chip
   

4. • Ocean Optics USB4000 spectrometer
   

5. • Dual PTI photomultiplier
   

6. • Etaluma Lumascope 500 microscope
   

Results:

1. • 02 May 08 -- First photos from the 14” are at picklesFirstImages02May08x.pdf.
   

2. • 09 Oct 09 -- LCROSS impact on the moon recorded with an Astrovid Planetary CCD video camera: LCROSS.pdf
   

3. • Comparison of Meade 10” and 14” LX200
   

4. • More photos with Nikon D300 at the 14” prime focus
   

5. • Spectra of bright stars and planets
   

6. • Hydrogen Alpha images of the sun
   

7. • Nikon D810A images