We have a number of scopes and astronomers to operate them for your event. Our flagship scope is the 16" Cyclops, and we have a a 16" and a 12" Newtonian Truss Tube telescopes.  Our partnering astronomers have a variety of other high end telescopes. 

Cyclops is a 16" Newtonian reflector built on a split ring equatorial mount.  The 16" primary mirror is ground from Pyrex to f 4.5.  The mirror cell's 18 mirror contact points were designed using Plop, and the optical tube baffle rings were located using Newt.   A year in design, five years in construction.   First light was July 3, 2010, all original design aspects completed Jan 2012.

• Top of the line 'Space Walk' eyepieces

   A view so big you have to look around to see it all.  It's like having your
   face pressed up to a spaceship window.

• 16" Pyrex mirror

    Pyrex is unique in that it holds it's shape with change in temperature.
    The large size gathers a lot of light, making for big bright images.

• Solid, baffle ringed optical tube

    The computer calculated baffle rings stop stray light from getting onto
    the mirror, making for high contrast views.

• Curved vane spider

    This custom design prevents the diffraction spikes normally seen around 
    bright objects (like stars) in other telescopes of this design.

• Split Ring Equatorial Mount

    Similar in design to the 200" Hale Telescope on Mt. Palomar,  this is a 
    stable, accurate mount.

• Sidereal Technology SiTech servo motor control system

    Faster, more accurate, more powerful, and far quieter than stepper motor systems.  Shaft
    encoders allow a guest to accidently lean on the telescope, slip the clutches, and the
    motors immediately kick in putting the scope back on target.  This is a huge benefit especially
    for winery events where people might be a bit tipsy.

 • Mirror Spec.s

    Cyclops:
    16" f4.5 (.4064 meter)
    P-V Error 1/6 wave / .23
    Strehl Ratio .965
    ROC=145"
    Focal Length = 72.5" = 1841.5mm

    Lightbridge:

    12" f 5 
    Focal Length 60" = 1524mm

    20" f 4 dream scope 80" = 2032mm

12.5" f 8 planetary scope 100" = 2540mm

• Power

    focal length of scope/focal length of eyepiece = power