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Welcome to the Dodd/Kurylo family backyard observatory located in Montpelier, Virginia USA, about 30 miles northwest of Richmond, the state capital. Here you will find photos of our telescope and imaging equipment plus some of the pictures we've taken of the night sky. Enjoy your visit!
Please have a look at our photographs of nebulae, galaxies, star clusters, and the moon.
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visitors since December 16, 2009 |
Have a look at the 8'x12' roll-off roof observatory we built. You'll also see the telescope, the imaging guide scope, the observatory computer and how we control it remotely, the computer's illuminated keyboard and cold-weather heater, and how we attach equipment to the telescope pier. There's also an extensive write-up on eliminating differential flexure from the imaging equipment for better-quality photos.
On June 22, 2004 we visited the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, and spent some time looking through the 24" Clark refractor.
In 1894 Percival Lowell, a wealthy Bostonian, set up his own observatory in Flagstaff, and on July 23, 1896, he installed the 24" objective lens onto a 32-foot long tube and viewed the dark Arizona sky. More about the Lowell Observatory and its telescopes can be found at www.lowell.edu/.
The f/16 refractor weighs six tons (2-ton tube, 1-ton counterweights, 3-ton "other movable"); the German equatorial mount weighs another seven tons. To aim the telescope, the observer uses the "Armstrong method" – shove it around by hand. Once aimed, clutches are engaged and a clock drive tracks the target.
When we visited, the Observatory staff had some difficulty finding targets, and later decided the "clock" (dial) that displays the right ascension needed adjustment. Views though the scope were bright and crisp, and we could detect some color in M51, the Whirpool Galaxy.
This photo shows the rear of the Clark 24" telescope. Interestingly, the same techniques used to process astronomy images dramatically improved this shot. Taken with a digital point-and-shoot camera having a puny built-in flash, parts of the telescope close to the camera were correctly exposed, but the objective end was not. Worse, the observatory dome was completely lost in darkness. However, application of levels and curves in Photoshop revealed the hidden details, as you can see here.
The telescope controls are, roughly clockwise from the left:
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Nebulae
Galaxies
Stars and Moon