CBA West Observatory
The Center for Backyard Astrophysics - West
(Tucson Station)
The Manifesto . . .
The Center for Backyard Astrophysics - West
(CBA West) - Tucson Station, located in northwest Tucson, Arizona began photometric
observations in April of 1994 in support of Columbia University's Cataclysmic Variables
(CVs) patrol project under the direction of Dr.
Joe Patterson. To date, over 170,000 CCD images have been taken from this site. A
diagram of the CBA West Data Flow Schematic is shown for
viewer amusement.
The Observatory . . .
The building is a
slide off roof structure with the dimensions of 8'x8' which house a computer controlled
14" telescope. An addditional pier external to the building holds a Cave astrola
mount used for visual, photographic and video observations using a 6" f/9 Meade
refractor and custom 6" f/4 reflector.
The Telescope . . .
A C-14 Schmidt
Cassegrain reflector on an Optomechanics
Research, Inc. 20M single fork equatorial mount is computer controlled by COMSOFT's PC-TCS telescope control system. A
4" f/8 Astrophysics Starfire refractor is used as a photographic guidescope. The main
scope is equipped with a Apogee Instruments AP-7 CCD
providing a 17x17 arcminute field of view. Photometric imaging is currently done
unfiltered. Up to fiftyfive, 60 Second exposures can be made in the course of an hour's
observing and typical runs net an average of 300 frames a night.
The Control Room . . .
The control room for the
telescope is located 130 feet from the observatory in an enviromentally controlled
building. Two seperate computers collect and analyze data taken by the telescope and
camera systems. A single dedicated PC controls the telescope and mount, while a second PC
controls the CCD camera and performs data analysis. The camera is controlled with Cyanogen's - Maxim DL/CCD software. Automated
differential photometry is performed on the images using NOAO's Image Reduction and
Analysis Facility (IRAF) software
running under the Linux Operating System.
Current CBA West Status . . ..
BC Uma
XTE J1118+480
Updated 2000.4.14
Copyright © 2000 by "Raging Stallion"
For further information: cba@comsoft-telescope.com.
