45cm Newtonian on a split ring/fork
hybrid mounting.
The Declination bearings are about 1400mm above the ground.
Declination and lower Polar bearings are 85mm hollow shafts in tapered rollers. Final
drive is a 25:1 friction roller driven through a 180:1 worm reduction by a
stepper motor. Declination drive is via a tangent arm, with about
7.5 degrees of travel.
First images taken with the new AP7 CCD from The Planetary Society Gene Shoemaker NEO
Observing Grant
