PlaneWave CDK 12.5 operational at AstroCamp

I am just back from a four day visit to the AstroCamp observatory in the mountains of S.E. Spain where I finalised the installation of my PlaneWave CDK 12.5 telescope. The system is now ready to Go Live on the iTelescope.net network later this month. The system specification is presented below.

Instrument Package:
CCD:  KAF-6303E (NABG)
Pixel Size:  9um square
Resolution:  0.73 arc-secs / pixel
Cooling: Set to  -25°C
Array:  3072 x 2048 (6.3 Megapixels)
FOV:  37.41 x 24.94 arc-mins
Filters:  Astrodon Series E LRGB, Astrodon 5nm Ha, SII, OIII, Photometric V 

Telescope Optics:

OTA:  Planewave CDK
Optical Design:  Corrected Dall-Kirkham Astrograph
Aperture:  318mm (12.5”)
Focal Length:  2541mm
F/Ratio:  f/7.9
Guiding:  External 80mm guidescope with Atik 314L+ guider
Mount:  Paramount PME

The system is hosted by AstroCamp - a remote telescope hosting facility set up in 2009 by a group of Spanish astronomers. The observatory is situated at an elevation of 1,660 metres above sea level near the village of Nerpio in Albacete, S.E. Spain. It is surrounded by the mountain ranges of Granada and Murcia and the Cazorla National Park with no big towns or cities with 200 km radius. Consequently it offers very dark skies with a Sky Quality Meter (SQM) reading of ≥22 magnitude per arcsecond squared and over 200 clear nights per year.