From left to right - Messier 31 and Takahashi 128mm refractor with piggy-backed Sky90 refractor.

 

Astronomical equipment ...

 

A range of equatorially mounted motorized telescopes are available to satisfy both visual observing or serious astrophotography.

 

telescopes

The 10” Meade Schmidt Cassegrain telescope with computerized GoTo is ideal for the observer wishing to hunt for planets, galaxies or nebulae.

 

A Takahashi 128mm refractor on EM200 mount makes for a good photographic platform for either CCD or digital camera photography. A Takahashi SKY 90 attached to the SBIG ST11000M produces wonderful wide field images with a Williams Optics mounted alongside as a visual finder. All this is mounted on an EQ6 which is autoguided by the SBIG camera,. and has computer find facility to hunt down those faint objects.

 

CCD cameras

Make use of SBIG's latest ST11000M 11 megapixel camera with astronomic 55mm colour and Ha filters in enclosed filter wheel. This fabulous CCD camera produced most of the images you see on our website.

 

The SBIG ST8E is a smaller chip camera, which provides enlarged views of galaxies.

 

 

 

 

 

DSLR cameras

We also provide Canon 10D and 30D DSLRs, which allow for easy imaging of the brighter deep-sky objects with single shot colour capture.

 

Image processing facilities

A range of processing and focusing software is available.

 

We utilize Maxim DL, Images Plus, CCDOPS, Software Bisque CCDSOFT and Adobe Photoshop. The software programs are used to process raw images and then stack them in order to produce high-quality photographic images. If you require assistance using our software, we can supply suitable training for our guests.