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.
| 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
| 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).