Equipment

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Telescopes
Meade LX200 12" SCT I purchased this scope on AstroMart in November 2008. I needed that six foot step ladder to reach the secondary collimation screws. This picture was taken on the first night that I had the scope outside. It certainly is a big beast.	Larger Image
Meade LXD55 8" SCT Purchased this scope in November 2002. Martin Peston published A Users Guide to the Meade LXD55 and LXD75 Telescopes in 2007, which featured four planetary images taken with this telescope.	Larger Image
Criterion Dynamax 8" SCT Purchased this vintage 1970's scope in early 2005 but dropped it and broke the corrector shortly after I received it. I just replaced the corrector this weekend (Sept 3, 2009) and the scope is back in service.	Larger Image
Criterion Dynamax 8" SCT Purchased this vintage 1970's scope in December 2005.	Larger Image
8" f/4 Newtonian. OTA assembled from parts in 1978 and mount built from scratch betweeen 1975 and 1976.	Larger Image
6" f/8 Newtonian OTA and mount assembled from parts purchased through University Optics and Pacific Instruments in 1975.	Larger Image
Bausch & Lomb 80mm f/10 Maksutov-Cassegrain Another eBay find. This will be used as a guide scope for my Meade SCT once it is on a new mount.	Larger Image

CCD Cameras
Watec 120N integrating video camera. This camera does a great job with deep sky objects using my LXD55 mount..	Larger Image
Meade Pictor 416XT CCD Camera with a Pictor 201XT autoguider. I purchased this camera off from AstroMart.	Larger Image
Meade Pictor 416XT CCD Camera with Meade 616 Filter Wheel. I purchased this filter wheel off from AstroMart. The first time that I tried to attach the filter wheel to the 416XT one of the electrical connecting pins broke off. Fortunately, I was able to replace the pin with the aid of some of my watch maker's tools.	Larger Image
ImagingSource DBK 21AF04.AS CCD Camera I purchased this camera in August 2007 after reading about the great capabilities of this camera and seeing many wonderful images taken with this line of camera. It is able to capture frames at a rate of 60 per second over a firewire interface. The camera needs at least 8 volts supplied by the firewire cable but my laptop can only provide 5 volts, so I modified a cable so that I could supply 12 volts by means of a 12 volt DC power supply.	Larger Image
Meade Pictor 208XT CCD Camera I purchased this camera shortly after the Meade 8" SCT. I have yet to put it to use. I am planning on using it as an autoguider later down the road.	Larger Image
Finger Lakes Instruments CM7-2E CCD Camera I recently purchased this fine camera on AstroMart. I am planning on using it with a spectrograph that I am planning to build.	Larger Image
Sac8 Peltier Cooled CCD camera I picked this camera up off from AstroMart.	Larger Image
Sac7 Air Cooled CCD camera I picked this camera up off from eBay for a real bargain. This camera will be used with an objective prism spectrograph that I am currently putting the finishing touches on.	Larger Image
Web Cameras Here are a couple of CCD Web cameras, a Philips ToUcam Pro and a Logitech QC 4000. The Web cameras are my work horses of planetary imaging.	Larger Image
Vesta Pro (PCVC675K) unmodified webcam. For a long time this camera wouldn't work with my laptop. Recently, I plugged it in and it now works.	Larger Image
Supercircuits CCD Camera Here is a Supercircuits PC-23C low light level security camera. This camera has a sensitivity of 0.04 Lux. This is almost an order of magnitude better than the webcams.	Larger Image
Vesta Pro (PCVC675K) SC1 (long exposure) modified webcam. I purchased this camera off from Astromart.	Larger Image
Vesta Scan (PCVC690K) unmodified webcam. I purchased this camera off from Astromart.	Larger Image
Philips SPC 900NC unmodified webcam. I purchased this camera off from eBay. It has a USB 2.0 interface which should allow a faster frame rate provided that the camera doesn't compress the frames at frame rates above 5 fps.	Larger Image

35 mm Cameras
Olympus OM1 with 500 mm lens. I purchased this camera somewhere around 1978. For 35 mm astro photography you can't beat the OM1.	Larger Image	Olympus Varimagni finder.	Larger Image
Olympus astrophotography camera. I purchased this camera off eBay. It has a leaf shutter, built in eyepiece projection and framing/focusing eyepiece. Here is a copy in PDF format of the instruction sheet that came with the camera, which provides a chart of the focal lengths of the 0.965 inch eyepieces that came with the camera.Camera Instruction Sheet
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STI knife edge/ronchi focuser		Larger Image

Mini-Lathe and Mini-Mill. Every telescope maker needs a small lathe and mill to make those odd ball telescope parts.
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Drill Press and Wood Lathe. These are some of the tools that belonged to my grandfather. He purchased them in the late thirties.
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Table Saw and Disc Sander.
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Watch Maker's Lathes. These lathes can't be beat when it comes to small jobs.
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Horizontal Band Saw. This saw is a must have for anyone that has a lathe or mill. The saw also works as a vertical band saw for cutting small pieces of plate.
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