Cahill Rooftop Observatory

Equipment Database - Celestron 10-inch

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Celestron 10-inch
Optical SystemSchmidt-Cassegrain
Mount TypeEquatorial, RA drive
Aperture 10"
Focal Length3429 mm
f-Ratio13.5
Rear Cell1.25"
Max FOV31.8'
Finder 8×40 mm
Finder FOV3.8°

This telescope may only be used from the Cahill rooftop.

We provide the former Downs rooftop telescope as a lighter alternative to the 14-inch for users who don't want to bother with computer control, or who find the C-14's fixed location too restrictive. The C-10 does not allow CCD or wide-field observing, but can be used in most other roles.

The 10-inch has enough aperture to observe many deep-sky objects, including star clusters, nebulae, and the brightest galaxies. It should also work well on all the planets, although we have not yet tested it on Neptune. The C-10 is not at all suited for the Moon or large clusters, since it has nearly the same focal length (and therefore magnification) as the C-14 but no support for two-inch eyepieces.

The C-10's mount can be polar aligned by eye, allowing the tracking drive to keep the target centered for long observing runs. The telescope itself provides very good image quality.