Calling all potential `artists`, see below, Peter`s mini-obscura. Get that perspective perfect!

   

 

 

. Camera Obscura

 What is a Camera Obscura? It is an optical device that projects an image of its surroundings onto a screen or table. We have, what we believe, is the largest table in the UK. 

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camera_obscura

 The camera obscura objective is an achromatic doublet of 8" aperture and 200" focal length. The flat mirror that directs the outside view to the objective is elliptical in shape with a major axis of 17". The 8" objective focuses the view on to a 80" diameter table covering an angle of 40 degrees. The magnification if viewing the table from 20" is 10x. The camera housing can be rotated horizontally through 360 degrees via a motor driven friction drive and the view can be adjusted +/- 15 degrees from horizontal by tilting the mirror mirror manually with a control rod.

 

 

Sunset via the Camera Obscura

 

Peters latest `portable` binoculars........

   

 Images courtesy of Paul Yates

 

   20" f 3.5 Dobsonian.   Thanks to the estate of -  Allan Gander

The new 20" Dobsonian nears completion. Improved truss mountings, new secondary spider and mounting,

finder scope and a Telrad. Base unit now sports some braked rubber wheels to aid movement. Roll out shed ready for use.

 

 

 

 

 

 

     

 

      . Scott Mount Meade 16" LX200 Schmidt-Cassegrain

This telescope consists of the commercial Meade optical tube assembly mounted on a professional standard asymmetric German type equatorial mount. The mount was donated to the Astronomy Centre by Mr. Nigel Scott of Hale, Cheshire. It has been completely refurbished by members of the Centre.

This instrument is the centre piece of the main observatory dome. This set-up is particularly suitable for long exposure photography. It can also be used for video astronomy.

        .  GOTO Mount Meade 16" LX200 Schmidt-Cassegrain

This instrument is a full specification Meade system, with the fork fitted on a GigaWedge to provide an equatorial mount and multi-functional GOTO capability. This unit is mounted in its own observatory on the plateau above the main dome.

This telescope will be used mainly for visual observing, real-time video recording and long-exposure astrophotography.

Attachments on the main tube assembly allow other, smaller, instruments to be fitted to take advantage of the high quality mount.

 

 

     · 17" F5 Newtonian Dobsonian

This telescope, housed in a fixed building, runs out on rails and can be used visually.

 

  

     · 30" F4.1 Newtonian Dobsonian

Ready for use,  if you have a head for heights. Rolls out from its own shed.

 

 

          · 12" F3.5 Reflecting Binocular Telescope

Offering excellent wide angle views of deep-sky objects this binocular telescope has a 1.6 degree field at 50X magnification.

It is of all aluminium construction and is housed like the 17" instrument.

     · 8.5" F12 Refractor

This achromatic 8.5" refracting telescope has its own observatory,  driven in RA, but it can easily be moved by hand.

The all aluminium telescope is mounted on a polar disc type German equatorial with electric drives (partly finished).

It will be used mainly for visual lunar and planetary observations.

 

    · Solar Equipment

We have several telescopes that can be fitted with suitable filters for solar observation in white light, plus a Coronado P.S.T. unit for hydrogen-alpha observations.

Peter is working on various modifications to the Coronado P.S.T. unit and we are getting excellent results.

A solar observatory that was completed in 2013 is proving very useful; it can also be used for night observing.

 
    

SM60mm Coronado etalon on a 80mm Skywatcher Startravel and BF15 Coronado blocking filter.

 

 

 

 

The latest 8" Newtonian Reflector on a

Fullerscopes Mount   " The Yates"

 

8" F8 Newtonian. Aluminium tube, 1/20th wave "research" grade optics by Orion Optics UK. Mounting, Fullerscopes Mk4 equatorial.

 

 

 

5" F15 triplet objective, originally by Ross of London but refigured by Horace Dall. Mount, alt-azimuth, Dobsonian style bearings. 

 

 

· Miscellaneous

We have a large and varied collection of portable telescopes, binoculars and accessories suitable for most aspects of general public astronomical presentation.

Members also often bring their own equipment up to the Observatory. Mains electricity is available at points on the upper plateau, should this be required to power telescope drives, laptop computers, etc.

 

      · Astrovid StellaCam II/III (B&W CCD Video             Integrating  Imaging System)

These video cameras allow deep-sky objects to be imaged in near-real-time on the monitors at the Observatory. They can integrate many individual frames to produce the final output. The video signals are also captured several times a minute, digitised and stored on a server at the Observatory for further processing. We plan to stream live images to the web site in the future.
 
The extra features in the version III camera include a cooled CCD chip and unlimited, manually controlled, integration times. The result is that fainter objects can be imaged with lower background noise.

Further details of this camera are available on the Astrovid Web Site.

 

    · KC-7H2P Camera (Colour CCD Video Camera)

This colour video camera allows brighter objects, such as the Moon and some planets, to be imaged in near-real-time on the monitors at the Observatory.

 

 

Watec WADE to 120N+ Deep Sky video camera

Specifications:

• Effective pixels: 380k(N), 440k(P)

• Resolution: 570TVL(H), 480TVL(V)

• Minimum illumination: 0.00002 lx. F1.4

• Gain control: MGC(8-38dB)

• S/N ratio: 52dB

• Shutter speeds: HI(OFF, 1/25, 1/250, 1/500, 1/1000, 1/2000[Sec.]), LO(1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256[Frame])

• Gamma: 0.35/0.45/1.0

• Weight: 150g(Controller 210g)