Belogradchik Observatory (Click to
obtain larger version (GIF, 74k).
Belogradchik Observatory (Click to
obtain larger version (GIF, 74k).
The Belogradchik Observatory is an optical observatory situated in the west part of Balkan Mountain, 180 km from Sofia, near the wide-known stone phenomena to the small town of Belogradchik.
For the Astronomy On-Line program the automatic 60-cm telescope at the Belogradchik Observatory will be available for searching and detecting of very rapid brightness variations and for observations of stellar objects, asteroids and galaxies up to V = 13.5 mag.
The observatory is equipped with a CARL-ZEISS 60 cm Cassegrain reflector with equivalent focal length 7.5 m. A one-channel photon-counting photometer with EMI 9789 QB photomultiplier, attached to the telescope and a set of 6 diaphragms (from 13.8 arcsec = 0.5 mm to 137.5 arcsec = 5 mm). The UBV and uvby photometric systems are realized. The respective filters are mounted in a common wheel.
An automatic system using IBM-PC/AT computer and synchronized moving of the dome has been recently built. The automation of the telescope includes: R.A. and D. positioning system up to 6 stellar objects in a field of 6 degrees with accuracy of 5 arcsec each, and automatic moving of the filters.
Two types of observations are usually run for the Astronomy On-Line observations programme: estimate of the photoelectric magnitudes of the stellar objects and patrol observations. As far as the minimal possible integration time is 0.1 sec and the maximal one is not limited, the automatic 60 cm telescope of the Belogradchik Observatory is suitable for observations of stellar objects, asteroides, galaxies and for searching and detecting of very rapid brightness variations.
According to its Director, Alexander Antov, the Belogradchik telescope is AOL-available in the period 18-22 November. The observers may contact directly with him at the email address - belogr@bgearn.acad.bg or to the Astronomy On-Line NSC-Bulgaria.
The observations for Astronomy On-Line will be carried out by Dr. Alexander Antov and students from the Sofia University. As the 60-cm dome is not (yet) connected to the local network, it will only be reachable by:
Phone : (+359 936) 33 72 (direct line).
An interface to the computer used for collecting and photometric data storing; A specially created software package "Automatic Photoelectric Reduction" (APR), written in Turbo-Pascal 5.0 for PC/MS-DOS 5.0 system. This software package contains programmes for data reduction in the standard UBV system and visualization of the light curves.
For more information, please contact A.S.Mutafov asen@wfpa.acad.bg
9 November 1996