Dodd/Kurylo family home page
| Observatory | Nebulae | Galaxies | Moon and Stars | Differential Flexure – Read This | Buy Astronomy Photographs |
Welcome to the Dodd/Kurylo family backyard observatory located in Montpelier, Virginia USA, about 25 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 heavens above. Enjoy your visit!
Read this information about differential flexure if you're thinking of using a piggyback guide scope for astronomy imaging.
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Please have a look at our photographs of nebulae, galaxies, star clusters, and the moon.
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Here is some information and photos of the 8'x12' roll-off roof observatory we built. You also will find information and photos about 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 at the telescope pier. There's also an extensive write-up about how we eliminated
differential flexure from the imaging equipment, for better-quality photos.
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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.
<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.
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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.
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