Temple 20

These are pictures of Temple 20 when it was installed and running at Astrokolholz Observatory near Cloudcroft, NM. My Friend Tom Krajci was hosting it but decided to take some time off from astronomy. So I picked it up awhile back and will use it as a spectroscopy scope this spring. It is a rebuilt 8" Meade LX200 GPS, SC with a custom carbon fiber tube, enhanced cooling, custom wedge and a full suite of software to make it a robo scope. When it is back up and running again it will be mounted with my ST-7E CCD and a CFW-8 filter wheel. It sports a focal reducer that allows it to image at around F/6.3. F6.3 is a good focal ratio for my Central Stars of Planetary Nebula project and both Temple 20 and the new Temple 28 (11" Celestron) benefit from this shorter focal length. Some focal reducers are known to cause distortion (especially Meades!) but both of the scopes have around F/6.3 and this gives a much better field of view for the CCD's. 

First Light