JATObservatory.org
Title
JAT Observatory
Description
The JAT Observatory is a small, privately owned domed observatory located in Fairless Hills, Pa. The 8 foot 9 inch tall, 7-1/2 foot diameter observatory houses a 10" Schmidt-Cassegrain reflecting telescope and a 4” apochromatic refractor. Because it is located in a light polluted area it it mainly used as a Lunar and Solar observatory.
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The telescopes are mounted piggy-backed style on a Paramount ME, German Equatorial Mount. The robotic telescope mount allows remote operation of the observatory from either the local area network or from over the Internet.
The shutters and dome rotation are also motorized and computer controllable, which also allows for automated control in addition to remote control. A wireless cloud and rain sensor will automatically send signals to close the shutters in case of rain if the observatory is under automated or remote.
Most of the power needed by the observatory is generated by a 120 watt panel. During the day for solar observing, power is feed directly from the panel (via a solar charge regulator) to the equipment. For nighttime observing sessions the observatory gets its power from two 100 amp hour deep cycle battery. The batteries are recharged by the solar panel during the daylight hours.
The observatory also functions as a weather station, providing data to various organizations such as Citizen Weather Observer Program. Every 5 minutes a connection is made to the Automatic Position Reporting System's weather network (About 2500 stations upload data to APRSWXNET). The data is checked for quality and then distributed to places like NOAA's Forecast Systems Laboratory, National Center for Atmospheric Research, and NOAA's Meteorological Assimilation Data Ingest System (MADIS), from there it is made available to forecasters, pilots, ships or anyone who needs it. Weather data is also uploaded to the Weather Underground. A lightening sensor installed at the observatory detects lightening within a 375 mile radius of the observatory. All the weather and lightening data is accessible on the observatory’s website.
Languages
English
