Starship Asterisk*

There are exciting doings at the Burke-Gaffney Observatory here at Saint Mary's University. A new telescope will soon be replacing the old one. Here's some photos (on their FaceBook page) of the dismantling of the old 'scope. (Details about the now removed 'scope on this page. I don't know anything about the new one yet.)

Rob

It's arrived...
Rob

Did it fit in the trunk of your car, Rob?

That is a VERY nice toy! Do you get to help in getting it up and running?

owlice wrote:Did it fit in the trunk of your car, Rob?

Nah, they caught me before I got it out of the building.

stephen63 wrote:That is a VERY nice toy! Do you get to help in getting it up and running?

I won't be helping, but it will be set up soon, before Christmas break. There'll be a grand unveiling in the new year.

I just found out it's a 24.5" mirror, replacing the old 20" one. Very interesting technology in this design.

Rob

rstevenson wrote:I just found out it's a 24.5" mirror, replacing the old 20" one. Very interesting technology in this design.

The Planewave instruments are very nice. I'm considering a 24" model for my own observatory.

Chris Peterson wrote:

rstevenson wrote:I just found out it's a 24.5" mirror, replacing the old 20" one. Very interesting technology in this design.

The Planewave instruments are very nice. I'm considering a 24" model for my own observatory.

Don't forget the FLI ProLine PL16803 that goes with it

stephen63 wrote:Don't forget the FLI ProLine PL16803 that goes with it :)

Yes, that's a nice camera. The pixels are a little small for the telescope, but it would work well binned 2x2 for most purposes.

Mounted!
Rob

Giddy-up!

Nice, Rob!

Post some pictures when they start using this telescope for photography, will you?

Ann

Ann wrote:Post some pictures when they start using this telescope for photography, will you?

I'll see if I can get permission to post the traditional "first light" picture.

This telescope is mounted on top of the 22-story Loyola student residence at Saint Mary's U, and "is primary used for teaching, public tours, and modest research projects including studying the nature of the aging processes in variable stars, searching for extra-galactic supernovae, and charting the orbits of asteroids in our solar system." SN 1995f was discovered here using the previous scope.

Rob

SN 1995f was discovered with your observatory's previous scope?

Cool.

Ann

Ann wrote:SN 1995f was discovered with your observatory's previous scope?

Yup. From this page...

A supernova in the galaxy NGC 2726 (in Ursa Major) was discovered by the RASC Halifax Centre and Saint Mary's Astronomy and Physics at the Burke-Gaffney Observatory!

The discovery image of SN 1995F... Rob