MBCAA Observatory

Telescope and camera configuration A7202

Creation: 2 Feb 2007

Previous configuration.

Telescope: Meade LX200 Classic 203mm f/6.3.

Camera: SBIG ST7E (and Philips TouCam Pro webcam).

Focuser: RoboFocus to drive the LX200 focus knob, with homemade braket.

Filter wheel: True Technology Custom Wheel wide (with mirror for eyepiece).

Counterweight: 2x1.5 kg on piggyback mounts, long thick foam dewshield, 0.7 kg on the left arm of the mount.

Telescope theoretical resolution at 700nm		0.73 "
ST7E KAF401E	chip size	6.89x4.59 mm
		765x510 pixels
	pixel size	9x9 microns
		1.38 "
ST7E TC211	chip size	2.64x2.64 mm
		192x164 pixels
	pixel size	13.75x16 microns
		2.11x2.46 "
TouCam pixel size		5.6x5.6 microns

Filter wheel: Usually fitted with photometry filters. May also be fitted with a StarAnalyzer 100 gratting for very low resolution spectroscopy. The telescope has then to be refocused by +88 steps from the focus of the photometry filters.

RoboFocus: calibration of its raw temperature versus the actual temperature (measured with an Oregon thermometer):

Best fit: Temperature = -238.6 + 0.424*Raw

Focalisation of the LX200 telescope (with the RoboFocus and the FocusMax software) versus the actual temperature:

Best fit: Focus = 6244 + 6.844*Temperature

The RoboFocus is used to automatically adjust the focus as the temperature varies (after a warm up of one hour or so, for the electronics to stabilize). The slope is 4.874 (step 4, DZ=10).

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