FREWSBURG - The Martz Observatory has announced that it has recently acquired a 16-inch Ritchey-Chretien telescope to compliment its present robotic 24-inch Dall-Kirkham telescope.
Through the combined efforts of several of the members, the observatory was able to arrange the purchase and transportation of this new research-grade instrument. Current plans are to utilize the main telescope's drive system by attaching the 16-inch R-C telescope to the main 24-inch telescope. The advantage of this adaptation will be to use the faster optics of the Ritchey-Chretien telescope to acquire larger area images of the sky. This arrangement makes possible sharper images of vast star fields and regions of large nebulosity and results in the need for fewer exposures.
The most distant object ever imaged by the 24-inch telescope to date is a gravitationally lensed quasar, located about 8 billion light-years from Earth, known as Einstein's Cross. It is composed of four images of the exact same distant quasar that appear around a foreground galaxy due to strong gravitational lensing.
Article Photos
The Martz Observatory in Frewsburg has recently acquired a 16-inch Ritchey-Chretien telescope to compliment its present robotic 24-inch Dall-Kirkham telescope. Pictured is a look down the tube of the new telescope.
Submitted photos
The telescope's camera images an area about one-quarter the size of the full moon in the sky. The 24-inch telescope was especially designed to observe and take distant deep space images.
Anyone interested in visiting the Martz Observatory is invited to visit www.martzobservatory.org to arrange a visit. As weather improves, the observatory will return to our regular public viewing nights. The observatory is open every Sunday from l0 a.m. until 2 p.m. and Wednesday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. Due to the uncertainty of the weather, visitors should call the observatory at 569-3689 before coming to make sure it is open. Group visits can be scheduled by contacting the observatory.