The scope is a fantastic and beloved TEC 140mm ED F7 APO Refractor manufactured by Telescope Engineering Company in Golden CO – USA. The APO140 is an oiled triplet refractor with ED glass (FPL53) as a middle element. More and detailed info are available at www.telescopengineering.com regarding the theoretical performances of the instrument and some of the accessories, like the Giant Field Flattener for 6x6 camera or large format CCDs.
TEC140 quietly lies on the GM2000 german equatorial mount made by 10Micron, an Italian manufacturer. The combo works really flowlessy also in presence of moderate breeze. The mount has an approximate load capacity of 40Kg for photographical use and a measured tracking precision of ± 3,3” without PEC. My GM2000 with QCI control system has the equatorial head splittable in two parts, weight around 15kg each. The heavy-duty tripod Centaurus guarantee a rock solid stability. Take a look at the 10Micron web site: www.10micron.com/homepage.htm
The Imaging CCD is a SBIG STL 11000M Class II ABG. The pixel array is 4008 x 2672 (36 x 24,7 mm) with 9 x 9 micron pixel size. Considering the focal length of 980mm the image scale is 1,89 arcsec/pix and the field of view is 84,2 x 126,4 arcmin. The internal 5 position filter wheel mount the Astrodon LRGB True Balance filter and Astronomik H-alpha filter - 12nm. www.sbig.com To the 3,5” Feather Touch Focuser I applied a Robofocus to get a precious assist during the focusing step.
I’m actually planning to test the possibility to get the RGB signal using Takahashi Sky90 and modified Canon EOS 350D, while TEC140 and SBIG are dedicated to luminance or narrow band imaging. Hope to show you soon some test.
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