Hi all,
the last months have brought a considerable rise in active users and observations - for what I am very grateful.
My apologies if sometimes I am not very reactive on inquiries or problems, I have been very busy between the pandemic and all.
Anyway, a little look in the future:
- The CDK500 is supposed to be shipped to Nerpio by end of this week. And I hope to have it operative by end of march 2021. This will add considerable imaging capacity, especially for photometry as we have those filters onboard 🙂
- The iDK 20" will get a new CMOS camera soon. I was planning on swapping it in may, however the sensor chip producer underestimated the market request, slipping delivery towards July. I expect it to be mounted and ready on the scope by October 2021. Also, I have a new 3,5nm Ha filter ready which we will insert instead of the current 7nm one.
- The Veloce 200 in Namibia will get a visit from myself in may 2021. I will swapt the filters with newer ones which should reduce halos and reflections. Also, I will add one "dark" filter to be able to get better darks and bias frames. The big work will be to get the orthogonality and collimation spot on. This time I will have assistance from veteran Veloce owner Harel Boren, as well as remote support from the opticians at Officina Stellare. I really count to nail it this time.
- The Veloce 200 in Spain has some issue swith the new (!) computer which we are investigating. It has sudden, sporadic reboots which are not helpful during the night...
- The 16" Meade Photometric system will be installed, if all goes well, in May, and be operative by June. We have to wait until the new roll-off roofs are operational to get them going
- We are planning for a new instrument in Namibia, ETA spring 2022 in a dome. Not sure which one, but I am considering a 20" f3.8 corrected newton with a 4040 CMOS camera.
Any input or consideration is welcome 😄
Clear skies
Lukas
