Student Orientation

Instrumentation

Facilities

  • Two outdoor observation terraces where telescopes are used for undergraduate astronomy teaching and public outreach events. These include an array of portable 8-inch go-to telescopes and a permanent 14-inch go-to telescope which resides inside "The Cube" (a small but robust structure on wheels). All these telescopes are equipped with white-light or H-alpha solar filters.
  • A 2,000 square foot multipurpose Interpretative Center. It is a state-of-the-art multifunctional building that serves as an open space, a lecture theater, or  large classroom. It is air conditioned and can comfortably accommodate 100 people. It is equipped with educational displays showcasing Indigenous Astronomy, four general purpose public computers with touch-screen monitors, a 12-foot screen and HDMI data projector for presentations, and wireless internet. 
  • A high speed optical fiber internet backbone and UCalgary wifi throughout the facility.
  • A wide array of research capable telescopes and detectors as described below:

CMT new

P Langill

Clark-Milone Telescope (CMT)

SPECS:

  • Manufactured by Astronomical Equipment Limited, Luton England, 1971.
  • Primary mirror: 40.5 cm f/5 parabolic optics.  
  • Mounting: German Equatorial.  
  • Current configuration: Newtonian
  • CMOS high-speed readout SBIG AC2020 camera.
  • Filters: SDSS, and Open.
  • Plate scale; 0.914 arcsec/pixel.  
  • FoV;  46.8 x 31.2 arcmin.

Of note: 

  1. The CMT and camera are remotely controllable and have been operated by astronomers as far away as Leiden University, Netherlands and Beijing Normal University, China.
  2. Mounted to the CMT is an 8" f/6 reflector that feeds light via fiber optic cable to the RAO echelle spectrograph (R = 10,000).  The spectrograph system which includes an ATIK 460EX Monochrome CCD camera, is also remotely controllable.  The echelle spectrograph is a product of Shelyak Instruments.

Recent upgrades:  

  1. The CMT had its 50-year old primary and secondary mirrors re-coated and optical alignment optimized.
  2. New Linux computer configured and will be implemented soon.  

A.R Cross Telescope (ARCT)

SPECS:

  • Designed and built by UCalgary/PHAS 1982 – 1986 
  • Primary mirror: 183 cm,  f/2.7  parabolic optics.  
  • Mounting: Alt-Alt.  
  • Configuration: 6 Megapixel SBIG camera mounted at prime focus with 9 micron pixels and 20 arc-min FOV.
  • R10,000 echelle spectrograph to be primary instrument in future.

History: 

  1. The ARCT has employed an LN2 cooled Photometrics CCD camera, an InSb photometer with JHKL’M’ filters, and an SBIG spectrograph, over its history.
  2. Primary mirror designed and built at the University of Arizona in the Roger Angel lab.
  3. The original optical configuration was an effective f/15 Cassegrain with multiple instrument bonnet.

Of Note:  

  1. The ARCT is now fully remotely controllable via the internet.
  2. C14 + video camera will allow tracking on field stars down to 12th magnitude.
  3. Custom-made gui controls telescope, dome, and guiding.
ARCT prime focus

Newly reconfigured ARCT.

P Langill

ARCT

Baker-Nunn Telescope

Baker-Nunn Telescope

SPECS: 

  • Primary mirror: 76.2 cm,  f/1  spherical optics.  
  • Configuration: Prime focus Schmidt.
  • Corrector Plate: 50.8 cm diameter 3-element unit with x – y adjustments. 
  • CCD camera: FLI Microline with 16803 chip
  • Mounting: Fork-mount Equatorial.  
  • Plate scale: 3.92 arcsec / pixel
  • FoV;  4.44 x 4.44 square degrees.

Of note: 

  1. 17 Baker-Nunn satellite tracking ‘cameras’ were designed and built by Boller&Chivens between 1958 and the mid 1970’s. 12 were commissioned by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and 5 by the US Airforce.  BN#15 was originally located at CFB Cold Lake Alberta using 55mm wide film to photograph the sky.  Today this incredibly fast digital telescope is a key part of the Rothney Astrophysical Observatory’s suite of research telescopes and is referred to as the RAO-BN.
  2. The RAO-BN has been a part of the Skynet Robotic Telescope Network since 2019.  Skynet is based at the University of North Carolina.
  3. The RAO-BN and camera are remotely controllable and have been operated by astronomers as far away as Kona Hawaii and Barcelona Spain.

Recent upgrades:  

  1. The RA rack-and-pinion gear box has just been disassembled, cleaned, reassembled and greased.  Tracking and slewing tests have been made with nominal results.  The RAO-BN is back online.

Rothney Radio Telescope (RRT)

SPECS:

  • Primary dish: 3.3 meters f/0.5 parabolic optics.  
  • Mounting: motorized meridian altitude adjustment.  
  • Receiver and Electronics: 1420 +/- 2 MHz spectrometer.  
  • Cascade of 2 feed-mounted low-noise amplifiers each with noise temp of 27K (total gain of 35 dB). 
  • Dual conversion super heterodyne receiver with 140 MHz 1st IF and 4 MHz 2nd IF.

Of note: 

  1. The RAO RRT is perfectly configured for observing the dynamics of the hydrogen gas clouds in the spiral arms of our Milky Way galaxy.  By scanning the plane of the Milky Way at different altitudes (and thus different galactic longitudes) the gravitational effects of Dark Matter are revealed in the measurable galactic rotation curve.

Planned upgrades:  

  1. The RRT data acquisition computer is being upgraded so the system is currently off line.  This work is scheduled for completion Fall2024.
RRT

C14

Celestron C14 Telescope

SPECS:

  • Designed and built by Celestron Telescopes
  • 14 inch schmit-cassegrain optical tube
  • Mounting: North equatorial 
  • Resolution: 0.39 arc seconds

Of note: 

  1. The C14 utilizes a solar filter allowing daytime safe viewing of the sun. 
  2. Attached tandem to the 14 inch primary tube, is a Cornado 40mm H-alpha telescope, allowing observing of solar H-alpha emission, such as, solar flares and prominences