Regulus! Astronomy Education: NRO

Northwood Ridge Observatory (MPC Code 225) N 43° 13.80' W 71° 10.50' 233m

NRO Open for Solar Observing

Current and Predicted Weather Conditions:

Star Map: Real-Time Star Chart for the Skies above the NRO
Satellite Predictions above NRO
Light Pollution Map for NRO Light pollution is becoming a problem here.

The NRO is a GLOBE ground level ozone measurement station. Please go to the GLOBE website for information, data, and more! If you are an educator or homeschooler and are interested in learning more about the GLOBE project, please contact me at: johnb@regulusastro.com. I would be happy to set up a time to discuss GLOBE with you. GLOBE is a cooperative effort of schools, led in the United States by a Federal interagency program supported by NASA, NSF, EPA and the U.S. State Department.

This is my personal observatory used for CCD imaging, variable star studies, and asteroid searches. What follows is a history of the site and its construction, followed by a description of its current use.

The Site:

The site is located on a wooded ridge north of the town of Northwood, NH, a small New England town with under 5000 residents. Our home is located on the same site and was chosen deliberately for its dark skies and remoteness from population. On a clear, moonless night, one can read by the Milky Way. Trees were removed from a quarter acre area leaving a cleared plateau surrounded by a dropoff on three sides.

Construction:

The construction of the observatory took place in several stages. First, a cement dead-man's pier was poured into the ground. Attached to this is a Le Sueur AstroPier. The structure was built by Boyd Industries. This was chosen for many reasons. We had thought long and hard about roll-off roof building, clamshells, and traditional domes. The decisions were a combination of personal reasons and logical choices.

Pier Construction
Observatory Construction

The Equipment:

The observatory houses a variety of different equipment for various scientific and imaging needs. Several scopes of different types are available:

Takahashi FSQ-106n apochromat for critical wide-field imaging.
Takahashi CN-212 Convertable Newtonian/Casssegrain Telescope.
1979 orange tube Celestron-8 SCT for f/10+ work.
Fiber-Fed Grating Spectrometer with SBIG ST-237a imager.
SBIG ST-7XME non-ABG CCD.
SBIG ST-8E upgraded to USB with CFW-8 filter wheel and UBVRI filters.

The mount used is an older Losmandy G-11 (back in the Celestron days). Using the dovetail system, it is an easy job to change between various scope combinations. Two scopes can even be mounted side by side to aide in guiding. For those with an interest in guiding ability, this mount has been upgraded with a Losmandy Gemini GOTO system enhanced by the use of TPoint software.

Before TPoint was introduced, the mount had significant pointing errors due to all sorts of issues. Below is a graph showing the pointing error for 30 stars (all above 20 degrees altitude) sampled across the sky:

Without TPoint

With a modest use of TPoint, the following is a diagram of the resulting pointing errors. Note the difference in scale. The mount is now capable of remote operation with guaranteed positioning of the desired object on the CCD chip.

With TPoint

The primary imaging equipment is an SBIG ST-8E non-ABG imager with a CFW-8 RGB filter wheel. Other equipment includes an Olympus OM-1n, and various adapters, eyepieces and "stuff". For more information on equipment and Philosophy, see: Equipment and Philosophy

Two Takahashis This image shows the most common setup for telescopes and imagers in the observatory. There is the Takahashi CN-212 Newt/Cas telescope mounted next to the Takahashi FSQ-106n Petzval refractor. The ST-7 imager is attached to the Newtonian focus of the CN-212. Within a minute, the ST-7 can be placed on the FSQ-106n or at cassegrain focus of the CN-212 depending on the need.

C-8 Business End This is the business end of the Celestron 8 operating at f/10 for high resolution solar imaging. Attached is a Van Slyke Versa Slider (slide mirror assembly). Attached to this is an SBIG ST-7 and an eyepiece. The cable to the upper left of the image runs up to the pully system to open and close the upper portion of the dome's opening. The interior of the dome is painted matt black to keep reflections down. This is very nice at night time. There is a wood shelf on the upper part of the pier to hold the various mount electronics.

Takahashi FSQ-106n and C-8 in position. This shows the Takahashi FSQ-106n and the Celestron 8 in position together on the G-11 mount. The C-8 has a JMI NGF-S focuser, an f/6.3 reducer, and a Taurus Tracker on the back, to which is attached a CCD camera, guide port, and slider port for object location and centering. The two scopes are attached to the mount using Losmandy's dual scope saddle plate. An extra six pound counterweight is required to balance the mount. Both scopes have individual finderscopes. This is because I have not taken the time to shim them to be optically parallel.

C-8 Objective End This is a shot taken through the dome's opening. Here you see the objective end of the older Celestron 8 with its full aperture solar filter in place. Also visible is the equatorial head of the Losmandy mount. The scope is pointed nearly due south in this image.

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	This image shows the most common setup for telescopes and imagers in the observatory. There is the Takahashi CN-212 Newt/Cas telescope mounted next to the Takahashi FSQ-106n Petzval refractor. The ST-7 imager is attached to the Newtonian focus of the CN-212. Within a minute, the ST-7 can be placed on the FSQ-106n or at cassegrain focus of the CN-212 depending on the need.
	This is the business end of the Celestron 8 operating at f/10 for high resolution solar imaging. Attached is a Van Slyke Versa Slider (slide mirror assembly). Attached to this is an SBIG ST-7 and an eyepiece. The cable to the upper left of the image runs up to the pully system to open and close the upper portion of the dome's opening. The interior of the dome is painted matt black to keep reflections down. This is very nice at night time. There is a wood shelf on the upper part of the pier to hold the various mount electronics.
	This shows the Takahashi FSQ-106n and the Celestron 8 in position together on the G-11 mount. The C-8 has a JMI NGF-S focuser, an f/6.3 reducer, and a Taurus Tracker on the back, to which is attached a CCD camera, guide port, and slider port for object location and centering. The two scopes are attached to the mount using Losmandy's dual scope saddle plate. An extra six pound counterweight is required to balance the mount. Both scopes have individual finderscopes. This is because I have not taken the time to shim them to be optically parallel.