Telescopes

The Southern Skies project uses the resources of Mt. Kent Observatory in Queensland, Australia, and Moore Observatory in Kentucky, USA. There is similar instrumentation available at both sites. Since they are in opposite hemispheres and have access to the southern and northern skies, there is nearly continuous coverage in time of the sky near the equator, and complete coverage of the sky in the course of a day.

Moore Observatory

Moore Observatory is home to several instruments available for education and research:

CDK20 North A 0.5 meter (20-inch) diameter corrected Dall-Kirkham telescope on a high precision German equatorial mounting for remote and automated imaging and photometry.

C14 North A 0.36 meter (14-inch) diameter Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope on the Wispi mount in the roll roof is for instrument development and visual observing.

Mewlon A 0.30 meter (12-inch) diameter classical Dall-Kirkham telescope on a modified Paramount for planetary images nightly and an archive of data selected for quality. The telescope may be scheduled for authorized remote use through a browser interface.

FSQ North A fast (f/5) wide flat field (4°) 10.6 centimeter diameter apochromatic Petzval astrograph providing photometry and imaging down to 18th magnitude. It is mounted in tandem with the Mewlon planetary telescope.

Nikon A fast f/1.4 85 mm focal length wide field color camera co-mounted with other telescopes offering real-time imaging of stars and solar system objects to 15th magnitude.

Wispi A Wide Field Spectral Imager used for research on spectra of comets, nebulae, and airglow and retired in 2013. In 2014 it was incorporated into the Small Echelle for the CDK700 at Mt. Kent.

RC24 A 0.6 meter (24-inch) Ritchie-Chretien reflector on an equatorial fork mounting for precision time series photometry and stellar spectroscopy with the Large Echelle.

Mt. Kent Observatory

Mt. Kent observatory has three intruments in operation:

CDK20 South A 0.5 meter (20 inch) diameter corrected Dall-Kirkham twin to the telescope at Moore Observatory. Located in the Sirius dome at Mt. Kent on a Planewave A200HR mounting, it is used primarily for photometry and color imaging.

FSQ South A fast (f/5) wide flat field (4°) 10.6 centimeter diameter apochromatic Petzval astrograph providing photometry and imaging down to 18th magnitude. It is the southern companion to FSQ North, and mounted on a Paramount in the middle enclosure at Mt. Kent.

CDK700 A 0.7 meter (27 inch) corrected Dall-Kirkham telescope on a Nasmyth mount. The telescope and its enclosure are currently undergoing final development for automated time series photometry and spectroscopy of stars by advanced students in the astronomy programs of the Universities of Louisville and Southern Queensland.