Geographic Location*

Latitude: 44° 37' 50.04" N (44.630566 degrees N)
Longitude: -63° 34' 49.36" W (-63.580377 degrees W)
Elevation: 92.6-metres (at instrument height above MSL)
Time Zone: AST/ADT (UT-3 or 4 hours)
IAU Observatory Code: 851

* determined by LIDAR (latitude/longitude is WGS84, elevation is CVGD2013)

Telescope Specifications

Our main telescope is a Planewave Model CDK24 with the following specifications:

Optical Design: Corrected Dall-Kirkham
Primary Mirror Diameter: 0.61-metres
Secondary Mirror Diameter: 287-mm
Effective Diameter: 0.54-metres (21.2")
Focal length: 3962-mm                
Focal ratio: 6.50
Brightness Ratio - scope to eye: 5909x
Mount: Planewave L600 Direct-Drive mount (fork-style)

CCD Imaging

Two CCD imaging cameras are installed with the following specifications. The camera used depends on the filter chosen.

Note: as of late 2023, Camera 1 (Apogee CG-16M) is not available and is being worked on! Therefore, Camera 1 filters are not available to be requested.  

Parameter Camera 1 Camera 2
Make/Model Apogee CG-16M SBIG STXL-11002
Filter Wheel Apogee AFW50-10S (ten 50mm square slots) SBIG FW8G-STXL (eight 50mm round slots)
Sensor Truesense KAF-16803 Truesense KAI-11002
Dark Current (e-/s at 0 deg C 2x2 binned) 0.08 1.2
A/D Converter 16-bit 16-bit
Full Well (e-) 94,000 60,000
Quantum Efficiency 60% @550 nm 50% @500 nm
Read Noise (e- RMS) 8.4 11
Pixel Size (microns - binned 2x2) 18 18
Pixel Size (arc-seconds - binned 2x2) 0.94 0.94
Minimum Exposure 0.1 seconds 0.001 seconds
Image Size (pixels) full size: 2048x2048 / reduced size: 1536x1536 full size: 2004x1336 / reduced size= 1336x1336
Field of View (arc-minutes) full size: 32.0x32.0 / reduced size: 24.0x24.0 full size: 31.4x20.9 / reduced size= 20.9x20.9

 

Available Filters

Note: as of late 2023, Camera 1 (Apogee CG-16M) is not available and is being worked on! Therefore, Camera 1 filters are not available to be requested. LUM requests will be assigned LUM2, RED will be assigned RED2, GRN will be assigned GRN2, and BLU will be assigned BLU2. 

Filter Name Model* Assigned Camera Description
LUM (Luminance) Astrodon Luminance E-Series 1 Luminance (includes Red, Green and Blue band passes)
RED (red) Astrodon Red E-Series 1 Red for pretty-pictures
GRN (green) Astrodon Green E-Series 1 Green for pretty-pictures
BLU (blue) Astrodon Blue E-Series 1 Blue for pretty-pictures
B Astrodon B 1 Photometric Johnson B
V Astrodon V 1 Photometric Johnson V
R Astrodon R 1 Photometric Cousins R
I Astrodon I 1 Photometric Cousins I
SG Astrodon Sloan g' 1 Photometric Sloan g'
SI Astrodon Sloan i' 1 Photometric Sloan i'
CLR Baader Clear 2 Clear (ie. no filter)
LUM2 Baader Luminance  2 Luminance (includes Red, Green and Blue band passes)
RED2 Baader Red  2 Red for pretty-pictures (673nm / 35nm half BW)
GRN2 Baader Green 2 Green for pretty-pictures (556.3nm / 35nm half BW)
BLU2 Baader Blue  2 Blue for pretty-pictures (502nm / 35nm half BW)
OIII Baader Oxygen III  2 Oxygen III (8.5nm half BW)
HA Baader Hydrogen Alpha 2 Hydrogen Alpha (7nm half BW)
SII Baader Sulphur II  2 Sulfur II (8nm half BW)

*All Astrodon filters are Gen 2.

Visual Observing

Theoretical Faintest Visual Stellar Detection: 16.35 magnitudes (no light pollution)
Actual Faintest Visual Stellar Detection:  14.2 magnitudes (observation of Pluto, Sept 2015)
Theoretical Resolution:
0.19 arc seconds (with perfect atmosphere)
Minimum Magnification: 122 using the 0.2x aperture rule
Maximum Magnification: 1219 using the 2x aperture rule
              

Eyepiece Used Focal Length
(mm)
Apparent Field
of
View
(degrees)
Magnification True Field
of
View
(degrees)
Exit Pupil
of
Secondary
(mm)
Exit Pupil
of
Primary
(mm)
Naglar 13 13 82 304.8 0.25 0.9 2.0
PanOptic 41 41 68 96.6 0.67 3.0 6.3
Ethos 21 21 100 188.7 0.52 1.5 3.2

All Sky Charts

All Sky Charts for each month of the year, needed for an ASTR1001 project, are here (as a pdf).