Laurent Cassegrain, a Catholic priest and teacher and probably the inventor of the Cassegrain Reflector
Cassegrain reflector | Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope | Schmidt–Cassegrain telescope | Laurent Cassegrain | Cassegrain |
Meade ETX telescope, popular line of compact Maksutov-Cassegrain telescopes made by Meade Instruments Corporation
Built in 2000, the observatory has a Meade LX200R 14" Schmidt-Cassegrain F/10 telescope, purchased and on loan from Ohio State University Astronomy Dept.
In 1997 two French astronomers, Andre Baranne and Francois Launay, after a long and meticulous investigation including a search for unpublished manuscripts and the analysis of parish registers in the places where Cassegrain lived (Chartres first and then Chaudon, near Nogent-le-Roi), identified Laurent Cassegrain as the most likely candidate.
The spot Maksutov–Cassegrain design has been used extensively in military, industrial, and aerospace applications.
The dome contains a Meade 14" Maksutov–Cassegrain telescope and SBIG (SBIG-STL1001e) imaging equipment. The telescope is used for teaching undergraduate and graduate astronomy labs by the department, as well as by the Astronomy club. The observatory's imaging capabilities have been used to monitor variable stars. On the first Friday of every month during the school year the department hosts "Astronomy Open Nights" during which a lecture is given, followed by observing if the weather permits.
The Nasmyth telescope, also called Nasmyth-Cassegrain, is a reflecting telescope developed by James Nasmyth.
The telescope has a compact modified Cassegrain design with a large 0.69 m secondary mirror, which gives it a very wide field of view: its single, dedicated instrument, a 268-million pixel imaging camera, can photograph 5.7 square degrees of sky.
In 1988-89, the Emanuel Papaelia Observatory (opened Nov'89) was built containing a 1963 vintage 12" Dall-Kirkham Cassegrain reflecting telescope belonging to the Astronomical Society of South Australia (ASSA), and originally housed at Marryatville High School. In 1996, a second building (the Ingham Family Rooms) was constructed. This contained a 10" Meade LX-200 Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope, and has a roll-off roof.