Rothney Astrophysical Observatory

Telescopes

• The A.R. Cross Telescope is a Ritchey-Chrétien design dedicated in 1987. It is attached to an unusual altitude-altitude mount which allows greater access to northern skies than other mounts. It was originally equipped with metal mirror acquired many years earlier, but even before the telescope was completed, plans were made to acquire a conventional mirror. This new primary was fabricated in the 1980s and, under a cost-sharing agreement, used from 1990 to 1993 at Apache Point Observatory. The glass mirror was finally installed in 1996. The telescope is equipped with the Rapid Alternate Detection System developed at UC. The computer-controlled "chopping" of the secondary mirror enables observers to perform differential photometry with the telescope.
• The Baker-Nunn Telescope was built in 1957 and donated in 1981 to RAO by the Canadian Forces Base Cold Lake. It is a modified Cassegrain reflector which was used to track satellites under a United States Air Force program. The original altitude-altitude-azimuth mount was replaced with a simpler equatorial mount when the telescoped was refurbished in 2004. DFM Engineering performed the work with the help of UC.
• The Clark-Milone Telescope, named after former co-directors Alan Clark and Eugene Milone, was installed at RAO in 1972. It was used to develop RADS in the early 1980s.