Three 24 Inch Telescope Designs
There are three 24 inch telescope designs currently known. The first
is the Smith 24
inch telescope, which is an f/20 Cassegrain reflector.
Clifford Smith founded the SDSU Astronomy Department, and developed the
Mount Laguna Observatory. The Smith 24 inch telescope was designed to
research photometry of variable stars, which consists of eclipsing binaries,
Cataclysmic Variables, and short term pulsating variables.
Our second 24 inch telescope is an f/s design, and is fully computerized.
It can be found at the Grasslands Observatory in Tucson, Arizona. The f/s
design allows for precise all sky pointing of the telescope. It has a
built-in periodic worm correction encoder. Plus it works great combined with
the SBIG ST-237A CCD camera for long exposure guiding.
Our final telescope is the Hamill 24 inch design located at the Hamill
Observatory. The observatory was formed by the Northwest
Astronomy Group. Its goal is for the observatory to be used by amateurs
for both research and education. Many high schools have ham radio stations,
and by using radio or internet, can have access to the Hamill 24 inch
telescope.
