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Harvard University

Astronomy Lab and Clay Telescope

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The Clay Telescope

The Clay Telescope is located on the roof of the Science Center. It is a 16" (0.4 m) DFM engineered telescope. The telescope is fitted with a DFM filter wheel with 50 mm Astrodon filters (UBVRI and H-alpha). The telescope is controlled using a Telescope Control System (TCS) and can also be controlled using The Sky software.

Currently, the telescope has three instruments. There is a 2048 x 2048 Apogee Alta F42 imaging CCD (specifications). It has a FOV of 28' x 28' and a pixel scale of 0.82"/pixel. We also have two SBig SGS spectrographs (detailed manual) with a SBig ST-7XME CCD (specifications) attached. Together the spectrographs offer three resolution grating options: low (3200 Angstrom range with 10 Angstrom resolution), medium (750 Angstrom range with 2.4 Angstrom resolution) and high (150Angstrom range with 1 Angstrom resolution). Finally, there is also a ZWO ASII224MC color CMOS camera (specifications and manual).

The telescope was installed in the summer of 2007 by a generous donation by Landon T. Clay.

 

Telescope Forms and Documents

Telescope opening and closing procedure html

CCD startup and shutdown html

Spectrograph startup and shutdown html

 

For current conditions and coordinates of the Clay Telescope, click here!

Check out the Clay Telescope photo gallery!!