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Observing Equipment
Our Department operates the Mt. Stony Brook observatory, housing a 14-inch Meade LX200-ACF telescope on a Mesu-200 German Equatorial Mount. This will be the workhorse telescope for the imaging and spectroscopic components of the course.
Step-by-step instructions
Telescope manual
Mesu mount Set-Up Instructions
SiTech Controller Manual
The mount has GoTo functionality through the software Cartes du Ciel.
Imaging observations with the 14-inch telescope will be taken with the SBIG STL-1001E CCD camera. The CCD camera is mounted on the back end of the telescope and is controlled through a laptop computer. A set of standard broad-band BVRI and a narrow-band H-alpha filters are available.
STL-1001E spec sheet
CCDSoft step-by-step instructions
Operations manual
CCDSoft manual
We have two DADOS spectrographs; one has the low-resolution grating (200 l/mm) installed, the other the high-resolution grating (900 l/mm).
Step-by-step instructions
Spectrograph manual
Tutorial by B. Koch
We use an SBIG ST402ME camera for the spectroscopic observations (it is much lighter than the STL1001E). It is also operated through CCDSoft (see above).
ST402ME manual
There is a separate AutoGuider camera, the Orion StarShoot, which can be used with the DADOS spectrograph:
Orion StarShoot manual
The AutoGuider is used with the software PHD2 Guiding. Here is a quick-start guide for our set-up.
For long observing sessions with little change in the set-up, you can remote-observe from the Computing Lab. The remote observing capabilities are currently limited to controlling the laptop (with the CCDSoft software) remotely. That means that you have to go to the dome every ~10 minutes to rotate the dome. You also MUST go to the dome to go to a new target, or to do a GEM flip.
Google chrome has a remote desktop extension which can be easily used to remotely control computers or set up ssh connections. Connect the dome laptop to the ethernet, start Chrome and login with your Google account. Once logged in, install the remote desktop extension on your Chrome and click "share this screen". The dome laptop will ask for you to setup a PIN and admin rights. Ask the TA to fill in the password and you are good to go. Now you can go downstairs and open the remote desktop page on your computer and the dome laptop should show up to connect. Note that you have to login with the same google id on the dome as well as your computer.
Our two-element radio interferometer employs 1-meter aluminum mirrors to combine light onto a single 1 meter commercial satellite dish. The interferometer has an adjustable 2-10 meter baseline and the reflective elements are well suited for observations at centimeter wavelengths. Single-dish radio observations can also be taken by flipping the satellite dish by 180 degrees and pointing it away from the aluminum mirrors.
Interferometer manual
Journal article