Telescopes

The basic setup shows the new 16" Cassegrain with corrected prime focus at f/3 and the uncorrected secondary focus at f/10. It is carried by the rock solid GEM MK100 on top of a 12" concrete pier. The black skirt of the scope for stray light blocking is not shown here. As secondary scope a TEC-140 APO refractor is mounted when needed at the side of the cassegrain.
The corrected primary focus at f/3 carries the STL camera for fast deep sky imaging. A motorised focuser with digital position readout enables exact focusing.
The back view shows the cassegrain focus with the 4" focuser. At the photo rail additional lenses can be piggipacked.
The TEC-140 APO refractor also is used for mobile observing/imaging coupled to an Astrophysics AP-400 mount and a Boxdoerfer MTS4 goto control unit. The TEC-140 is equipped with a medium format field flattener and a 3.5" feathertouch focuser to achieve very precise and stable focusing for imaging. See the setup during my stay in Hakos/Namibia in May 2006 at right.

Equipment List and Manufacturers Links

Main Scope	Cassegrain 400mm by Philipp Keller
Secondary Scope	TEC 140mm FL980mm (f/7) Apochromatic Refractor with 3.5" focuser
Lenses	Canon 50mm f/1.4 lens, a fast lens, can be used for astrophotography when stopped down to f/2.8 100mm f/2 lens, a fast lens, can be used for astrophotography when stopped down to f/2.8 200mm f/2.8 lens, my best lens, can be used fully open for astrophotography with the Canon 10D and the STL-11000 Sigma 20mm f/1.8 lens, a good lens for wide fields, when stopped down to f/3.5
Mount	MK100 by Michael Knopf 100 mm axes, 200 kg weight
Telescope Control	FS2 Escap motors and Goto control by Michael Koch Elektronik, a very convenient and intuitive control, microstepping, big database, no PEC possible, no encoders needed
Filters and holders	SBIG FW8-STL 8-position 50.8 mm Filter wheel Baader 50.8 mm CLRGB filter set (new!) Baader 7 nm H-alpha narrowband filter 50.8 mm size. Baader 8.5 nm O-III narrowband filter 50.8 mm size. Baader 8 nm S-II narrowband filter 50.8 mm size. Baader UHC filter 50.8 mm (new!) Baader Astrosolar solar filter Baader continuum filter (narrow green) for solar imaging. Atik 5x filter wheel 1,25" for the webcam setup
Heater	Home made heater system by selfregulating heating tape around the primary mirror back side ( and camera) for protection during the wet and cold season, not used during observing!
Eyepieces	40 mm Pentax XL 30 mm Baader Eudiaskopic (2x) 26 mm Meade 4000SP 18,5 mm Erfle from BW-Optik Germany (2x) 12 mm Vixen LV 7 mm Vixen LV
Barlows, converters	Astrophysics 2" apochromatic barlow Televue 1.25" barlow 3x Baader FFC (2 " Fluorit Flatfield Converter) Baader short barlow 1.25"
Bino	BW-Optik Bino (equivalent to Lumicon Bino) equipped with removable 1,8x barlow-corrector