The images presented within the gallery are from a variety of astronomical instruments. There is no such instrument that suits all possible targets, thus its a matter of choosing the right instrument for the desired visual impact. The instrument alone does not produce fantastic and memorable images. The work in planning, execution of data acquisition and post processing greatly influence the end result. Depending on my desired goal, I've utilised my own equipment noted below however in some cases, online rental telescopes have delivered an extension to the repertoire.
The Takahashi FSQ-106ED is a 530mm F/5 instrument that uses a modified Petzval design. It consists of four refracting elements, two of which are widely separated rear elements that correct field curvature, astigmatism, colour and produces a very flat field. Having a 4" focuser, the instrument has an incredible 88mm image circle that will fully illuminate a 35mm, 645, 6x7 or even 4x5" medium format camera with minimal corner darkening (vignetting). The FSQ-106ED has a small critical focus zone (CFZ) of 55 microns (1 micron is 0.001 millimeters). In order to achieve precise focus, a Robofocus stepper motor is utilised. The stepper motor is computer controlled, temperature compensating and moves in 7.5 micron steps.
Previous OTA: Celestron 11" (2800mm F/L) SCT.
Losmandy Titan german equatorial mount. This mount has a photographic payload capacity of 45 kilograms (100 pounds), and is permanently attached to a steel pier compared to a field tripod. The Gemini firmware was recently upgraded to level 4 which provides some nice new features such as PEMPro support and more southern hemisphere alignment stars. The mount and Gemini software is easy to use and is PC controlled utilising TheSky6 from Bisque. The telescope pointing model is defined by MaxPoint to ensure objects are successfully centered in the telescope field of view across they sky.
The SBIG STL-11000M astro camera. Having used the Pentax K-1000 35mm film camera for sometime, I welcome what the STL-11000M has to offer. The CCD's large array of 4008 x 2672 pixels (36.1 x 24.7 mm) is the equivalent size of a conventional 35mm film frame. With a 9 x 9 μ pixel size, the STL-11000M is versatile for wide field work or telephoto imaging through a long focal length instrument. A filter wheel that holds five 50mm filters is integrated into the camera for colour imaging. The Kodak KAI-11000 CCD chip is not very sensitive around the 656nm wave length requiring longer exposures to compensate. Compared to other chip types, the KAI-11000 has a low peak quantum efficiency of 50%. The quantum efficiency refers to the fractional number of electrons formed in the CCD pixel for a given number of photons. Despite the low sensitivity, the camera is approximately ten times more sensitive than film nor does it exhibit reciprocity failure common with film emulsions. I typically operate the camera at -20 degrees cooling to reduce noise and rotate the image calibration library (flats and dark frames) every month.
The STL astro camera is fitted with Custom Scientific 50mm unmounted 10nm Hydrogen-alpha (Ha), luminance (L), red (R), green (G) and blue (B) filters. Many astrophotographers use narrowband filters such as Ha, OIII (Doubly Ionised Oxygen) and SII (Singly Ionised Sulfer). As the Ha, OIII and SII filters are extremely narrow in what light they pass, it is possible to image objects under light polluted skies. In comparison, RGB imaging can be difficult in light polluted situations as many RGB filters also transmit the pollution that typically resides between 570 and 610nm wavelengths (commonly caused by sodium vapour streetlights). For this reason, I prefer to image under dark unpolluted skies when using the RGB filters.
"AR-TWO-DEE-TWO" is the name of the Sirius 2.3 meter (7.5 feet) diameter observatory. The observatory is a real time saver. There is no need to take equipment outside and fumble around in the dark setting up and tearing down. In addition, the mount is constantly polar aligned and optics close to environment thermal equilibrium so all that is required is to power everything up and start taking photos. I contemplated a roll-off roof design, however decided to go with a dome due to windy conditions experienced at certain times of the year. Sirius observatories are Australian made and are shipped world-wide. Built using marine grade fibre glass with stainless steel fittings, while not indestructible, it would take some serious storms to knock one of these down. The observatory is dynabolted to a 3 meter (9.8 feet) square steel reinforced concrete slab which is 300 millimetres (12 inches) thick. The steel pier is filled with sand and bolted down to a smaller internal concrete slab that has no contact with the main 3 meter square slab mitigating vibration issues. This took some engineering to achieve, but works exceptionally well.
The dome rotation and shutter are motorised and computer controlled using MaxDomeII to allow remote operation. The dome opening is slaved to the telescope to ensure the instrument aperture is never blocked by the dome. Dome and shutter motor power is supplied via 12VDC batteries in which are charged using green energy, hence the solar panels. The incomplete weather station post can be seen at right of the observatory.
Operating an observatory in an unattended state presents some risks, predominately related to the weather. To mitigate rain or strong winds damaging equipment, I've installed a weather station post consisting of a variety of sensors performing different activities.
Configurable weather thresholds such as cloud coverage, rain and strong winds will close the observatory automatically to protect equipment.
Computer:
An observatory would not be complete without a computer. The PC runs Windows XP and numerous astronomical software for taking photos, telescope control, focusing and weather monitoring. This system is internet accessible via a local wireless network and satellite service allowing remote control of all observatory operations.
The observatory computer software library consists of:
Image processing is performed on a separate computer and consists of:
Last but not least and technically not equipment, but plays a very integral part, LOCATION! The observatory is located in a rural setting of South Gippsland, two hours drive south east of Melbourne, Australia. Situated on a 250 acre property, well away from sources of light pollution. Sky conditions are typically around visual magnitude 6.6+ (Bortle scale: Class 3) with reasonable "seeing" (low atmospheric turbulence).