Warrumbungle Observatory 0.51-Meter Telescope
Telescope Specifications
The observatory telescope is a 0.51-meter (20-inch) F/6.8 PlaneWave CDK telescope.
Camera Specifications
The primary imaging instrument is a SBIG STL6303E camera. This is a research-grade CCD camera capable of maintaining stable temperatures to -50C below the ambient temperature. The camera contains a Kodak KAF 6303E 3060 x 2040 pixel CCD chip with 9-micron pixels giving an image scale of 0.54 arc seconds/pixel un-binned and 1.1 arc seconds/pixel binned 2 x 2. The area of the chip provides a field of view of 27.6 x 18.4 arc minutes. The CCD chip has a high quantum efficiency (68% peak).
Filter Wheel and Filter Specifications
Attached to the camera is a filter wheel that holds B, V, R and I photometric filters; Blue, Green and Red filters for RGB imaging; and a Clear opening (no filter).
Telescope Enclosure
The Warrumbungle telescope is housed in a Sirius 3.5-meter dome.
Coonabarabran, New South Wales -- Australia
Warrumbungle Observatory is located in Coonabarabran, New South Wales, Australia under protected dark skies near Siding Spring Observatory, Australia's Premier Optical Observatory. The dark skies are protected out to a radius of 200km with government restrictions on lighting for business and residential properties. The site is 450km distant from the light polluted skies of Sydney, 600km from Canberra, and 500km from Brisbane. On average 65% of the nights are totally clear. Peter Starr owns and operates the Warrumbungle Observatory.
Observatory Site Information
Latitude: 331:16:30.6 SouthLongitude: 149:11:40.3 East
Altitude: 552 meters (1,811 feet)
MPC Observatory Code: Q65