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

Hampden-Sydney College Observatory

Lattitude

37.238431

degrees

North

Longitude

78.470897

degrees

West

Elevation

149

meters

Telescope Height

4

meters

Minor Planet Center Code

W40

17" Planewave Telescope

Focal Ratio

f/4.5

Effective 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

     61,165,100 

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.