Location
Student Center
Document Type
Poster
Start Date
19-8-2025 1:30 PM
End Date
19-8-2025 2:30 PM
Description
In Summer 2025, the Morris Observatory completed major upgrades to its Meade 16-inch telescope, improving both mechanical functionality and imaging workflows. Hardware enhancements included the installation of a precision focuser, providing finer and more stable focus control, and a flip mirror system, enabling rapid switching between eyepiece viewing and camera imaging without the need for realignment. Imaging and processing approaches were also refined, with systematic use of flats, darks, and lights to correct optical artifacts, sensor noise, and uneven field illumination. Computational methods, developed using Python and Astropy, automated calibration, stacking, and enhancement, increasing consistency and efficiency in image production. These collaborative efforts between faculty and students have significantly advanced the observatory’s imaging capabilities, creating new opportunities for research and community engagement.
Included in
Advances in the Morris Observatory in Summer 2025
Student Center
In Summer 2025, the Morris Observatory completed major upgrades to its Meade 16-inch telescope, improving both mechanical functionality and imaging workflows. Hardware enhancements included the installation of a precision focuser, providing finer and more stable focus control, and a flip mirror system, enabling rapid switching between eyepiece viewing and camera imaging without the need for realignment. Imaging and processing approaches were also refined, with systematic use of flats, darks, and lights to correct optical artifacts, sensor noise, and uneven field illumination. Computational methods, developed using Python and Astropy, automated calibration, stacking, and enhancement, increasing consistency and efficiency in image production. These collaborative efforts between faculty and students have significantly advanced the observatory’s imaging capabilities, creating new opportunities for research and community engagement.