Sherzer Observatory Equipment
Norbert Vance with the 10-inch apochromatic refractor telescope and 4-inch apo guide scope under the 6-meter dome
Students and staff have access to a 10-inch f/14 apochromatic refractor telescope with:
- 4-inch apochromatic refractor guide scope
- SSP-5 PMT USB-based photometer
- ST-8,ST-237, and Orion DeepSky Pro color CCD imagers
- Canon 20Da and XSi DSLRs
- .7Å Daystar H-alpha solar filter
- Coronado H-alpha and CaK solar scopes
- 10-inch and 5-inch aluminized glass solar filters
- spectroscopic eyepiece
- sensitive Stellacam II CCD video camera system
- 4-inch achromatic refractor
- 12.5-inch, 8-inch Newtonians
- three 8-inch Schmidt-Cassegrains (two Celestron Nexstar 8's and one Meade LX-200)
- a Meade 6-inch ACF-LS "Lightswitch" GPS positioning scop
- two 10-inch and eight 8-inch Dobsonians (4 with computer guiding)
- 5.5" Schmidt camera
- historically-registered 4-inch Alvan Clark refractor and Negus sidereal clock
- Goto EX-3 and Sega Homestar classroom planetarium projectors
- PC LAN with Internet access.
The C14 at Fish Lake (KEEC)
Classes in the astronomy lab utilize a variety software packages including Siennasoft's Starry Night Pro desktop planetarium program. The observatory computers use Software Bisque's The Sky and CCDSoft packages, Berry's AIP4Win, and several other image processing software programs.
A "Fastar" Celestron 14-inch (C14 SCT) Schmidt-Cassegrain optical tube assembly on a Celestron CGE "GoTo" GEM (thanks to an MSGC grant) serves as our largest aperture instrument. It is regularly used in the field at KEEC (Fish Lake), the Great Lakes Star Gaze events, Kensington Metro Park events, and at other dark sky sites.
A Model 7.5 Sirius Observatory dome serves as the permanent home for one computer-controlled Celestron Nexstar 8 and imaging hardware.
Sherzer Observatory has a fine dual selection of effective primary instruments: the resolution and magnifying power of the 10-inch apochromatic refractor for excellent lunar, planetary, and Hydrogen-alpha solar views, and the ease-of-use "go-to" and "Faststar" low f/ratio capabilities of the Nexstar for CCD/digital imaging and student projects. The student Astronomy Club's 1.42 GHz (21cm Hydrogen line) radio telescope operates from 404 Sherzer as well.
The department additionally maintains one 8-inch, two 10-inch, and two 12.5-inch Newtonians at EMU's KEEC (Fish Lake) near Lapeer, Michigan.
Meade LX200 SCT on its roof deck mount
Astronomy Graduate Assistant David Sitar with the Celestron imaging telescope in our secondary dome