The Bradferd Robotic Telescope

2009-07-01T17:25:00.000-07:00

Check out this cool telescope. If you have been into astrophotography for any amount of time then you may already know about the Bradferd Robotic Telescope. But, for thous how don't, This is the Bradferd Robotic Telescope. The BRT telescope is a collection of 4 telescopes and other instruments on Mount Teide, Tenerife. It is free to use for all, using there web site.

http://www.telescope.org/

Sign up is free and you can take your own pics with it. You don't need a telescope at all. Let me give you just a little info about there scopes. Of course you can click the link and get the info your self.

Telescopes
There are four telescopes on the mount, Constellation, Cluster, Galaxy and Guide.
　
Constellation
This optical system provides our largest field of view. It is designed to image an area of the sky that is big enough to show individual constellations. It can also be used to image the Milky Way, something that is very difficult to see from the UK.

Field of view
Approx 40 degrees square

Camera
FLI MaxCam CM2-1 fitted with a E2V CCD47-10. 1k x 1k pixels, each 13um square. Class 1

Filter
FLI CFW-2 Eight position filter wheel

Focus
N/A (fixed focus point)

Optical
Nikon 16mm f2.8 lens
　
Cluster
This optical system is large enough to cover many important stellar clusters, and sensitive enough to show background stars in an image of the moon. A typical target for this system would be the Pleiades (also known as M45) or a large globular cluster such as M15.

Field of view
Approx 3 degrees square

Camera
FLI MaxCam CM2-1 fitted with a E2V CCD47-10. 1k x 1k pixels, each 13um square. Class 1

Filter
FLI CFW-2 Eight position filter wheel

Focus
N/A (fixed focus point)

Optical
Nikon 200mm lens
　
Galaxy
This optical system is a real telescope with a 14 inch aperture. It can be used to image any visible Messier object, many NGC objects, small star fields and planets. It also provides detailed close-up images of the moon.

Field of view
Approx 24 arc minutes square

Camera
FLI MicroLine fitted with a E2V CCD47-10. 1k x 1k pixels, each 13um square. Class 2

Filter
FLI CFW-2 Eight position filter wheel

Focus
Optec TCF-s Temperature Controlled Focuser. Motorised Crayford style focuser with automatic temperature compensation

Optical
Schmidt-Cassegrain Celestron C14 optical tube. 3910mm focal length, 355mm aperture at f/11. A Celestron focal reducer gives an effective focal length of 1877mm at f/5.3.
　
Guide
Field of view
As yet unmeasured

Camera
FLI MaxCam CM10-1 fitted with a Kodak KAF-3200. 2184 x 1510 pixels, each 6.8um square. Class 1

Filter
FLI CFW-2 Eight position filter wheel

Focus
Optec TCF-s Temperature Controlled Focuser. Motorised Crayford style focuser with automatic temperature compensation

Optical
Orion Optics OMC140 DeLuxe. 2000mm focal length, 140mm aperture. Maksutov-Cassegrain telescope operating at f/14.

My Telescopes

2009-06-26T16:43:00.000-07:00

The first time I looked thru a telescope was at the age of 12, during the Apollo missions. It was my dads old 50 mm refractor? (I think it was a Sears & roebucks model) telescope. That's all it took to spark my interest in astronomy, not to mention the Apollo missions.

My first telescope was a Celestron EQ 80mm refractor with a manual EQ mount. Much better than my dads old 50mm. For the first time I could see the rings around Saturn. Now I was really into the heavens. But I wanted more.

So, I traded my EQ 80 in for a Konus 5." Maksutov Cassegrain. Wow! what a slam dunk that was. I went from 900mm of focal length to 2000mm of focal length with better light gathering capabilities. But, still I wanted more. I wanted more light, which means bigger diameter telescopes.

So, I went with a Orion 10." Newtonian with a focal length of only 1200 mm. Wow, much more light, plus a much more crisp image. But then I no longer had the close view that I had with the
Konus 5.".

Of course this lead me to search for a more powerful telescope. The Meade 10." LX200R OTA. Sitting on my Meade LXD75 mount with AutoStar 497. Supposedly the most widely used research telescope in use today? I was not as impressed as I thought I would be. It certainly has the power I was looking for but the Orion 10." Newtonian has a much brighter and crisper image. I just pop in a 2." 12mm lens and go. It would seem as thou the more lenses you have to look through the less light you get. I think the Orion is a much better scope then the Meade LX200R.

I liked the Newtonians so much that I went with the Meade 12." LightBridge. By far the best scope I have. From my back yard, I can point the 12." Dobs at the darkest part of the night sky and Wow! there are stars there! The only drawback is its a Dobs. I can't use any of my CCD equipment with it. It would require a heavy duty concrete mount for tracking.

For astrophotography I use the Meade DSI Pro2 with Autostar suite. I also have a Celestron NexImage LPI CCD but the two don't seem compatible. Something with the drivers gets crossed. I like the Meade DSI for its resolution but its old and of course, I want more. I am looking into the Orion Starshooter family of CCD's. As soon as I get one I will let you know what I think of it.

Meanwhile, what telescope do you like?