University of Miami Astronomy Club

Equipment

The Nicholas Copernicus Observatory has four main sections; the courtyard, the main office, the refractor dome, and the reflector dome.

The Main Courtyard is the focal point of the observatory; it is the entrance and is surrounded by the other three parts. Most of our public nights are spent here, as several scopes and a pair of binoculars will be set-up on a busy night.

Our Main Office is where many of our telescopes, most of our eyepieces, and all check-out equipment is stored. The pride and joy that is stored here is a Meade 8" LX-200. We also have three 8" Newtonian, and a 12" Newtonian. Our eyepieces, files, broken equipment (aside from the 18"), computer (a P-100 that our 2001 Director donated) and most of our furniture are also housed here. We have several pair of binoculars here, but we are always looking for more.

The Refractor Dome houses our largest operational telescope (10 January, 2001). This is a 10" Refractor, the largest in the area.

The Reflector Dome houses our largest telescope, an 18"reflector. This magnificent telescope is a Cave that has been modified. It has an open mount, and we are looking for someone to donate a cover for it, as the light pollution is killing our view. Unfortunately, this telescope has been out of commission for several years now due to motor failures. The mirror needs to be cleaned as well (a very costly and technical procedure). We currently have insufficient funds to afford the process and are looking for donations.

Of course, since we are a part of the University of Miami, we are non-profit. We do not charge a fee for anyone to come through on our public nights, and we sometimes arrange for private groups to come through.

We also appreciate donations and guest book entries. Our guest book and donation box are located by the door just inside the main office. If you would like to make a donation of $50 or more, and would like a receipt such as for tax purposes, please see the, Faculty-Advisor before placing your donation. Also, if you would like to become a member, various levels of donations are available and receipts will be provided if requested.

Please see the Faculty-Advisor immediately if you have a donation or can volunteer time for one of the above projects.

Thank You,
Astronomy Club

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Equipement Detail

Main Office

The main office is where the staff gathers for meetings, where we store our smaller equipment and where the guestbook is located. All visitors to the observatory are encouraged to sign the guestbook, as this is how we obtain funding from the University.

The Courtyard

The courtyard of the observatory is where we set up our smaller telescopes.

The Reflector Dome

The 18" reflector was donated to us quite awhile back. It is believed to have been from the 60s. The 18" is a Cave reflector that has been modified. When it was donated, it was an f/8 Newtonian style scope and quite long, it required a forklift-style chair to get to the eyepiece and was not a practical thing to use at the University so we cut it back. It is now an f/5 Newtonian with the parts needed to change it to an f/25 Cassagrain if we choose to. These changes were made by David Fagin, adding yet another great name to this scope. Since then, motor problems have left us with much work to do before this scope can be used by the public again, but these are well underway and since the developement of this site we have had someone who worked on the scope when the modifications were made contact us, so we should be able to get it back up and running as soon as possible!!

The Refractor Dome

The 10" refractor is truely a jewl among planetary scopes. Donated by the same person (and at the same time) as the 18" reflector, this scope is an asset to our observing. The lens is a Perkin-Elmer apochromat, not a meer achromat, so it has three elements instead of two, and is corrected for three colors. This gives a superb view of intrastellar objects, to our knowledge, it is the best refractor in South Florida (and certainly the best available for the public to use).