Equipment

This is my main scope. It's a Meade 16 inch f/4.5. It will get me to 14th magnitude from my back yard.

The Starlight Express MX-5 CCD camera is what I'm using for imaging. It's built around the Sony ICX055AL-6 chip, with a single stage Peltier cooler glued directly to the back of it, getting us to 30 deg. C below ambient temperature. The camera is threaded to accept camera lenses with the M42 Pentax thread. That is how I use it most, with a 55mm camera lens and a photometric V, or IR rejection filter.

Chip Size - 4.9mm X 3.6mm
Pixel Array - 500 X 290 pixels
Pixel Size - 9.8 X12.6 microns
Dark Current - less than 1 electron/pixel/sec at -30C
Read Noise - 25 electrons RMS
Full Well Capacity - 120,000 electrons
Analog to Digital Converter A/D - 16 bit (65536 gray levels)
Spectral Response - Blue 400nm = 50%, peaks in Green at 520 nm

My main scope for photography has been this elderly C8 (Super C8 Plus) with no electronics. Now it also has no drive correction, which is why I've taken nothing but wide field stuff for a couple of years. When at home, the C8 is used from my new permanent pier, rather than the tripod shown here.

This my new permanent pier for the C8. I can't believe I fought with the portable tripod for so long! I built this thing myself, total cost $8.60 US. I may put a coat of black paint over the gray if it offends me enough, but the present color is baked on Sikkens enamel, absolutely permanent. It happened to be the color the paint shop was shooting that day.

This is my photographic telescope. I very seldom use it, it's more a playground for the cats.

I built these two 6" Newtonians a few years ago. I keep the red f/7 in the garage for quick and casual observing. The blue f/10 was given to my son, but I still use it to look at planets. I ground and figured both mirrors, and the f/10 came out best. It came in at 1/10th wave while the f/7 is a little better than 1/4.

This is the same telescope I bought with my paper route money when I was 12 yrs old. The old Tasco has seen a little modification over the years, most notably the mini dob mount and a hybrid diagonal to allow use of 1.25" eyepieces. I probably really should be using this one to guide the C8, but to reach focus with a barlow and star diagonal, I'd have to cut the scope off. Just can't bring myself to do it!

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