Cumberland Elementary School first used Cumberland Observatory when it was built around the year 1970. The Wabash Valley Astronomical Society (WVAS), which was formed in the early 1970s, has used the observatory as a base of operations ever since. After a few years of initial operation, Purdue University became interested in the use of the observatory.
At first Purdue made use of the observatory through the Earth and Atmospheric Science Department. The Purdue Physics Department started using the facility when the ASTR 263-264 class was created. In 1987 the original fourteen-inch Newtonian reflector was replaced by a sleek new Celestron C-14. In the following years, the Physics Department used the observatory to conduct minor research and for class labs. In 1994 they used the Celestron to observe the jovian impact of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9. A senior research team also used the telescope for the photometric analysis of globular clusters.
The Cumberland Obervatory dome was refurbished in 1994. This lead to replacing the Celestron C-14 with a new telescope. In August of 1995, the Physics Department installed a new sixteen-inch Meade LX-200. By September 1995 a CCD was added. The Ring Nebula was an impressive sight!
Currently, HEAp, ASTR 263-264 and the WVAS all use Cumberland Observatory and the Meade LX-200 and its CCD and filter wheel. Hopefully in the near future, the Department will decide to commission the construction of a new observatory further from the city limits, since current light pollution on Cumberland Avenue limits observability.
This page last updated on Monday, July 29, 2002.
Optics at Cumberland Observatory
Statistics on the 16-Inch Meade LX-200 Telescope
Optical Design Schmidt-Cassegrain
Catadioptric
Clear Aperture .406 m
Primary Mirror Diameter .4159 m
Focal Length 4.064 m
Focal Ratio f/10
Resolution .28 seconds of arc
Limiting Mv 15.5
Limiting Photographic M 18.0
Maximum Practical Visual Power 800X
Near Focus 30 m
Optical Tube Size .45 m diameter x .83 m long
RA Motor Drive System 4 speed, microprocessor
controlled 18 V servo
motor. 11" worm gear with
Smart Drive.
Dec Control System 4 speed, DC servo controlled
11" worm gear with dec drift
software and Smart Drive.
Manual Slow-Motion Controls Dec and RA
Hand Controller Motorola 68HC05
microcontroller, 2 line x 16
alphanumeric character
display, 19 button keypad,
red LED backlit
Main Controller 16 MHz 68301 microprocessor
1 M program memory, 64 K
ram, 4096 byte non-volatile
memory (EEROM).
Maximum Slew Speed 4 deg/s
35mm Film Coverage .49 deg x .34 deg
Net Telescope Weight 215 lbs
Hardware Used with the Telescope
Statistics on the Apogee CCD
Model AP47P
Make Apogee
Instruments INC
Bits 16
Size 1024X1024X13u
Computer Port Setup Parallel Port
Cooling HV (motorized fans)
Minimum Temperature -35 degrees C below ambient
Shutter Time Range 0.02 seconds to
10,400 seconds
CAM s/n A1831
Bias Level Setting 1778
Maximized Digitized Well Capacity 89k
Gain 1.4 e-/ADU
Statistics on the True Technology Color Wheel
Make True Technology LTD
Number of Filters 6
Filter diameter 1.25 inches
Thickness 2 inches
Current Wheel Configuration 1 - Clear
2 - Red
3 - Green
4 - Blue
5 - Clear
6 - Open
Software Used