There has been an observatory of some type for over 50 years at the University of Utah. Older visitors in the ages of 60's and 70's visiting the observatory tell
of when they were just 10 years in age, going to the U's observatory with their family to see Jupiter and Saturn. The observatory dome was built on
the roof of the South Phyics building in 1976 and housed a 16 inch Cassegrain telescope which now resides at the Stansbury Park Observatory Complex. After the university was required to install an elevator,
the observatory went through another change. In 2001, The Willard L. Eccles Foundation
donated funds to purchase new telescopes, cameras, a spectrograph, and other items for the observatory which is now on the roof of the South
Physics building. New mounts and housings were installed for the telescopes and we have the observatory as we see it today. Once more in 2012, they donated again to provide upgrades for the telescopes, cameras, and computer systems.
The observatory is currently used to host our star parties, scout tours, and a classroom lab for the U's Observational Astronomy course (phys 2060/4060, astr 2060/4060).
The Observational Astronomy course provides instruction on telescope use, astrophotography, basic and advanced astronomy research techniques. Class sizes range from
15 to 30 students per semester and is growing in popularity each year. Currently, the U offers a minor in astronomy and within the next few years, the U hopes to have a undergraduate major and graduate program in astronomy and astrophysics. The Department of Physics and Astornomy has hired several new astronomy professors for the upcoming majors and research. For more information on the current
minor offered by the U physics department, click here
.
Once again, the Willard L. Eccles Foundation and the E.R. & E.W. Dumke foundation have donated funds for a new observatory for the University of Utah to be installed at Frisco Peak in southern Utah.
The scope is installed and operating and the facilities are being developed for remote operations. The telescope purchased from DFM Engineering is an open truss Cassegrain design, fork mounted, 32 inch telescope.
The type of research possibly will possibly include infared observations,
extra terrestrial planet searching, gamma ray bursts (optical counterparts), and other research.
For more information, visit the Willard Eccles Observatory website.
Physical Location: 125 S. 1400 E. Salt Lake City, UT 84112 Latitude: 40° 45' 59.09" N Longitude: 111° 51' 0.67" W Location provided by Google Earth®
Located on the roof of the South Physics building, we have a 14 foot diameter 360 degree, electrically rotated sky dome housing our 14" Meade LX200GPS telescope.
Telescopes |
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| Four Meade 10" LX200 ACF | ||
| Specs: | ||
| Design: | Schmidt-Cassegrain | |
| Aperture: | 254 mm (10") | |
| Focal Length: | 2500 mm (98.42 in) | |
| Focal Ratio: | f/10 | |
| Resolving Power: | 0.45 arc sec | |
| One Celestron 11" mounted on Losmandy G-11 (currently used for mobile star parties) | |
| Specs: | |
| Mount: | Losmandy G-11 German Equatorial |
| Design: | Schmidt-Cassegrain |
| Aperture: | 280 mm (11.02 in) |
| Focal Length: | 2800 mm (110.24 in) |
| Focal Ratio: | f/10 |
| Resolving Power: | 0.42 arc sec |
| One Meade 12" LX200 ACF | |
| Specs: | |
| Main Scope: | |
| Design: | Schmidt-Cassegrain |
| Aperture: | 305 mm (12 in) |
| Focal Length: | 3045 mm (119.88 in) |
| Focal Ratio: | f/10 |
| Resolving Power: | 0.375 arc sec |
| One Meade 14" LX200 GPS + Tracking Scope | |
| Specs: | |
| Main Scope: | |
| Design: | Schmidt-Cassegrain |
| Aperture: | 356 mm (14") |
| Focal Length: | 3045 mm (119.88 in) |
| Focal Ratio: | f/10 |
| Resolving Power: | 0.321 arc sec |
| Tracking Scope: | |
| Manufacturer | Celestron |
| Design: | Achromatic Refractor |
| Focal Length | 910 mm (35.83 in) |
| Focal Ratio | f/11.7 |
| Two Coronodo PST Solar Telescopes | |
| Specs: | |
| Design: | Achromatic Refractor |
| Aperture: | 40 mm (1.57 in) |
| Focal Length: | 400 mm (15.7 in) |
| Focal Ratio: | f/10 |
| Wavelength: | Hα @ 656.2 nm |
| Bandwidth: | < 1.0 Å at the Hα wavelength |
| One Orion XT 12 Dobsonian Intelliscope | |
| Specs: | |
| Design: | Dobsonian Reflector |
| Aperture: | 305 mm (12 in) |
| Focal Length: | 1500 mm (59.06 in) |
| Focal Ratio: | f/4.9 |
| Resolving Power: | 0.38 arc sec |
| All Scopes (except the PST and Dobsonian) are permanently mounted on equatorial piers and kept safe from the elements by custom-made housings. |
| Imaging Equipment | |
| Six Santa Barbera Instrument | |
| Group (SBIG) ST-7E CCD | |
| Cameras with CF-8 Color Filter Wheel | |
| Specs: | |
| Chip Design: | Charge Coupled Device (CCD) |
| Chip Size: | 9 x 9 Microns |
| Pixel Array: | 768 x 512 Pixels, 6.9 x 4.6 mm |
| Full Well Cap.: | ~50,000 e- (ABG) ~100,000 e- (NABG) |
| Quantum Eff: | 50%@550nm; 60% @ 650nm; 30% @ 400nm |
| Dynamic Range: | 74 dB |
| Six Meade DSI Pro II | |
| Monochrome CCD Cameras | |
| Specs: | |
| Chip Design: | Charge Coupled Device (CCD) Sony ICX285ALL |
| Chip Size: | 8.3 x 8.6 Microns |
| Pixel Array: | 752 x 582 Pixels, 5.59 x 4.68 mm |
| Full Weel Cap.: | ~18,000 e- |
| Quantum Eff.: | 65% @ 540nm; 40% @ 400/750 nm |
| Readout Noise: | 2.5e-/Pixel/s @ 15°C |
| Dynamic Range: | 7,200:1 |
| One SBIG DSS-7 Deep Space | |
| Spectrograph with ST-7E Camera | |
| Specs: | |
| Slit Widths: | 50, 100 and 200 µ |
| Dispersion: | 5.4 Å/pixel |
| Resolution: | 15 Å |
| Spectral Range: | 4130 Å |
| Wavelength Range: | 4500 to 8000 Å |
| One SBIG SGS Self Guiding | |
| Spectrograph with ST-7E Camera | |
| Specs: | |
| Gratings: | 150 and 600 lines Per mm, 4.3 and 1.0 Å per pixel |
| Slit Width: | 18 and 72 µ |
| Resolutions: | 18 µ slit with 600 ln/mm: 2.4 Å |
| 18 µ slit with 150 ln/mm: 10 Å | |
| 72 µ slit with 600 ln/mm: 10 Å | |
| 72 µ slit with 150 ln/mm: 38 Å | |
| Specs with ST-7E: | |
| Dispersion: | 1.07 or 4.3 Å per pixel |
| Resolution: | 2.4, 10 or 38 Å FWHM |
| Spectral Coverage: | 750 Å w/ high res grating, 3200 w/ low res grating |
| Wavelength Range: | 3800 to 7500 Å |
| One SBIG AO-7 Adaptive Optics Unit | |
| Specs: | |
| Positioning: | 10 milliseconds |
| Read out rates: | 40 per second |
| Posistion error: | 20% |
| Mirror Range: | +/- 50 Pixels ~ two arc minutes (for 80 in fl) |
| Photometric Filters: | |
| Custom Scientific UBVRI Filter Set | |
| Transmission: | |
| U | ~ 68% |
| V | ~ 85% |
| B | ~ 70% |
| R | ~ 81% |
| I | ~ 90% |
| Bandpass: | |
| U | ~ 300 - 400 nm |
| V | ~ 480 - 645 nm |
| B | ~ 350 - 680 nm |
| R | ~ 550 - 850 nm |
| I | ~ 700 - 1200 nm |
| Narrowband Filters: | |
| Orion Hydrogen Alpha, Oxygen-III, and Sulphur-II 7nm Bandpass | |
| Transmission: | |
| Ha, O-III, S-II | ~ 90% |
| Bandpass: | |
| H-alpha | ~ 656.3 +/- 3.5nm |
| O-III | ~ 500.7 +/- 3.5nm |
| S-II | ~ 672.4 +/- 3.5nm |
| Color Filters: | |
| Meade LRGB Color Filter Set | |
| Transmission: | |
| R | ~ 14% |
| G | ~ 24% |
| B | ~ 30% |
| Custom Scientific LRGB Color Filter Set | |
| Transmission: | |
| RGB | ~ 90% |
| Bandpass: | |
| R | ~ 595 - 700 nm |
| G | ~ 450 - 625 nm |
| B | ~ 380 - 550 nm |