Telescope Requirements

• Suggested minimum aperture: 8.0 inches (20 centimeters)
• Suggested focal length: f/4 or f/5, but more important is to match the CCD's pixel resolution to the seeing and to the telescope's image size while retaining a large field of view!

CCD Requirements

• One of the top-notch, commercial CCDs such as:
  • Apogee Instruments Inc.
  • Finger Lakes Instrumentation
  • Hi-SIS
  • SBIG
  • Meade
  • Starlight Xpress
  • or other similar camera
  
  
• Pixel resolution of 2 arcseconds or better.

Filter Requirements

Filter Manufacturers and Suppliers

We recommend Johnson-Kron-Cousins (basically the same as Johnson-Cousins) UBVRI filters using the Bessell prescription for CCD work. The original Johnson RI filters were designed for blue-sensitive photomultiplier tubes, not CCDs. With the advent of CCDs, Kron and Cousins modified the Johnson RI system to better fit red-sensitivity of CCDs. Later, Bessell developed a UBVRI system using cheaper glass that matched the response of the Johnson-Kron-Cousins photometric system. Therefore, many manufacturers now make scientific grade, Johnson-Kron-Cousins UBVRI filters using Bessell's glass prescription.

Some manufacturers and suppliers are:

• Omega Optical
• Optec, Inc.
• Schuler Astro-Imaging via Astrovid
• SBIG
• Custom Scientific
• Glen Spectra
• MURNAGHAN Instruments

Before you order and purchase a filter, you should contact the manufacturer or supplier to verify that they sell astronomy Johnson-Kron-Cousins UBVRI filters based on the Bessell prescription for CCD photometry work. Also, contact your CCD manufacturer because many offer UBVRI photometric filter sets and wheels designed for your CCD.

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STSP Coordinator: Stef McLaughlin
Webmaster: Elizabeth Warner
Last Updated: Wednesday August 29, 2007