iTelescope - T31 - Deep Space - Australia


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Location Information


Observatory: iTelescope.Net at Siding Spring Observatory Australia - MPC Q62

Telescope:  0.50-m f/6.8 reflector + CCD + focal reducer

Timezone:  UTC +10:00 New South Wales, Australia Daylight savings time is observed.

Minimum Target Elevation: Approx 25º


South 31° 16' 24" East 149° 03' 52"  

Elevation: 1122m  MPC Code Q62


Operational Notes


Deep Field. Hybrid Missions. Typically used for Photometry and Imaging. FITS and TIF file formats. Dark Frame calibration data is available for  5, 10, 60, 120, 180, 300, 600, 900  second exposures. Binx1 - Binx2.  Raw data can be found at data.itelescope.net.


  • Recommended Maximum Exposure 300 seconds. Best results on Binx1.
  • The Planewave Ascension 200HR mount is so accurate whilst tracking that iTelescope Admin have disabled active guidance, with a corresponding decrease in session setup time when imaging.
  • Important:
  • T31 as well as T24  use RBI flooding to flush the CCD wells of any residual data from the previous images.
  • If this is not done then ghost images of bright objects like stars can remain on the chip when another user selects a new target. They appear as faint ghost like images of stars or spots in the image. So we flush the CCD of any old data and clean the images for following users or different targets.
  • We MUST also produce MATCHING Bias / Darks calibration data that includes this RBI flush in order to produce acceptable images. This calibration data MUST match the exposure lengths of the image. Eg. 5. 10, 60, 120, 180, 300, 600 or 900 seconds.
  • So if your imaging sessions on T31 are for example using 150 second exposures then NO MATCHING CALIBRATION data will be able to be applied by the telescope server to automatically remove the RBI flush effect from your data. If you use our standard and recommended exposure times the RBI artifacts will not appear. You of course have the option of taking your own custom Dark Calibration during your session and applying this calibration yourself post session.


Instrument Package


CCD:  FLI-PL09000  CCD camera

QE: 68% Peak

Full Well:  ~100,000e-  Anti Blooming Gate (ABG)

Dark Current:   <0.1 e-/pixel/sec. @ -35ºC

Pixel Size:  12um Square

Resolution:  1.1 arc-secs/pixel

Sensor:  Frontlit 

Cooling:  Set to -30ºC default 

Array:  3056 by 3056 (9.3 Megapixels) 

FOV:   55.9 x 55.9 arc-mins

Filters: 

Astrodon E-Series Luminance, Red, Green, Blue

Astrodon 5nm Ha, SII, OIII

Astrodon Johnson/Cousins V, Rc, Ic

Position Angle: 088º

FLI do not publish the gain figure for the Proline PL09000 camera.
The gain is fixed at the factory.
The typical conversion gains of the cameras are 1.52 − 1.55 e− /ADU

 

Telescope Optics


OTA: Planewave 20" (0.51m) CDK

Optical Design: Corrected Dall-Kirkham Astrograph

Aperture: 510mm

Focal Length: 2259mm (focal reducer)

F/Ratio: f/4.4

Guiding: Active Guiding Disabled 

Mount: Planewave Ascension 200HR




Telescope Horizon Limits


South: 15°

North: 50°

East: 20°

West: 20°