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Loiano observing site

The 152 cm telescope at the Loiano observing site

Involved people at OAB:

Loiano, observing site of Bologna Observatory, is located at 785 m above sea level and is 37 Km far from Bologna. In Loiano are located 3 buildings (two hosting the 152 cm and 60 cm and one the guest house), and 23 hectares of wood. The person in charge of Loiano observing site is V. Zitelli.

The 152 cm telescope, dedicated to G.D. Cassini, was built by Reosc and operates since 1976. General description of Cassini telescope is given in table 1.

The main focal instruments presently available at the telescope are:

  1. A spectrograph/focal reducer BFOSC (Bologna Faint Object and Spectrograph), based on transmitting optics ranging from 330 to 1100 nm. Up to now it is possible to choose, as collecting device, between two CCDs:
  2. a Loral thick CCD 2048x2048
  3. a Thomson CCD 1024x1024.

    A new camera with a better sensitivity, mounting a chip EEV, is in progress. This camera has been commissioned and will shortly become the standard camera for BFOSC.

    There are two set of filters available: a standard Johnson- Kron-Cuisins system and a Gunn system.

  4. A "classical" cooled five colours Photorelectric Photometer

  5. A two channels photoelectric Photometer (3 colours).

BFOSC has been the most scheduled instrument for a long time, about 80% of the total allocated time, being its flexibility taking into account the meteo condition of Loiano site.

The 60cm telescope, was built in 1933 by Zeiss of Jena. It was originally equipped with a photographic camera at the F/3 direct focus. Recently it was modified in a f/20 cassegrain and permanently used for photoelectric photometry.