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Observatory

The Hampden-Sydney College Observatory houses a new 17 inch Ritchey-Critien telescope and mount from Planewave Optics. It includes a climate controlled room for computers and on-site observers.

The observatory is used on clear nights for projects in our astronomy classes, student research projects, and community observing. Our current plans are to integrate the observatory into the SkyNet telescope control system through the for fully automated control. This will enable the telescope to be used more efficiently, because it will not need to be staffed in order to be observing the sky.

Weather chart

17" Planewave Telescope
Focal Ratio f/4.5
Diameter  17 inches 432 mm
Effective Focal Length 77 inches 1949 mm
ZWO ASI6200MM Pro Camera
Pixels per side  9575 × 6388
Total Number of Pixels 61165100 Pixels 61.2 Megapixels
Pixel Size  3.76 × 3.76 microns
Chip Size 36 × 24 mm
Plate Scale 0.40 × 0.40 arcsec/pixel
Field of View  64 × 42 arcminutes
The 17" Planewave telescope on its pillar mount is located inside the observatory dome.
This is a three-color image of the Pinwheel Galaxy, a spiral galaxy much like our own. It was observed with the IR filter (shown as red), the G (green), and the H-α narrow band filter (blue).
This is an image of the Dumbbell Nebula, a planetary nebula. It was observed with the R filter (red), the G filter (green), and the H-α filter (blue). The H-α images took the longest to exposure, with an integration time of 1000 seconds, or 16 minutes and 40 seconds.
The 17" Planewave telescope on its pillar mount is located inside the observatory dome.
This is a three-color image of the Pinwheel Galaxy, a spiral galaxy much like our own. It was observed with the IR filter (shown as red), the G (green), and the H-α narrow band filter (blue).
This is an image of the Dumbbell Nebula, a planetary nebula. It was observed with the R filter (red), the G filter (green), and the H-α filter (blue). The H-α images took the longest to exposure, with an integration time of 1000 seconds, or 16 minutes and 40 seconds.
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