Equipment
To use or inquire about using Astronomy Club's equipment, please come to an Astronomy Club meeting (held Fridays, 7:30pm in DH A301D during the semester), or email an AstroC officer. To use Astronomy Club equipment outside of group functions, you must be an active member of Astronomy Club. partial listing of our club's inventory is as follows:
| Item Name | Category | Description | Quantity | Purchased |
| Meade LX200 (blue) | Telescope | 10" aperture, schmidt-cassegrain design. In its case on TKO platform. | 1 | early-mid 1990s. |
| Orion SkyQuest (dark gray) | Telescope | 10" aperture, Dobsonian design. Currently mounted in TKO, replacing the Bobich scope. | 1 | ~2006 |
| Meade LXD55 (white) | Telescope | One 10" aperture, One 8" aperture, Schmidt-Newtonian design. | 2 | 2002 |
| Celestron C8 (orange) | Telescope | 8" aperture, schmidt-cassegrain design. One formerly belonging to Truman Kohman (including his modifications). One belonging originally to Astronomy Club. | 2 | Mid-1970s |
| "The Monster" (white) | Telescope | Enormous 12.5" Newtonian Reflector. Built at CMU in the 1970s (presumably). Loaned to the Amateur Astronomers' Association of Pittsburgh (AAAP) in 1987, where it was installed in the Scanlon Room of the newly-built Wagman Observatory. Decomissioned in 1997 to make way for the Manka Memorial 21-inch telescope. Returned to CMU. In Astronomy Club's possession since late 2012. Remains unmounted. | 1 | 1970s |
| Bobich / Astroc Scope (white) | Telescope | 10" aperture, Newtonian design. Custom built by Astronomy Club members. Mirror ground by Chuck Bobich et al. between 1969-1973. Installed in TKO Oct. 1986. Equatorially mounted. Repaired in 1990s. Decomissioned/unmounted May 2014. Currently dismantled under TKO platform | 1 | 1969-73 |
| Orion ED80T (carbon fiber gray) | Telescope | 80mm aperture, Apochromatic refractor design. Ideal for Astrophotography (when paired with AVX mount) | 1 | 2015 |
| Small Refractors | Telescope | Simple 100mm aperture refractors. Easy to transport, low-tech, low-end. | 2 | 2015 |
| AVX Mount | Mount | powered equatorial mount for telescope. Intended primarily for use with ED80T Apo telescope. Counterweights required. | 1 | 2014 |
| Meade LXD55 Mount | Mount | equatorial mount for use with Meade LXD55 models. Counterweights required. | 1 | 2002 |
| Orion AstroView Eq. Mount | Mount | equatorial mount for telescope. Counterweights required. | 1 | 2013 |
| Levenhuk T310 NG | Camera | Camera primarily intended for planetary photography | 1 | 2013 |
| CCD | Camera | CCDs are still sometimes considered preferable to CMOS sensors when it comes to astrophotography, but this was more true when our 2 CCD cameras were purchased. Due to antiquated software incompatible with modern computers, we rarely use these cameras. | 2 | ~1995/~2005 |
| T-rings/T-adapters | Camera Adapter | Adapters to allow Nikon, Canon, and other cameras to connect to the eyepiece hole of a telescope. | 3 | 1980s-present |
| O-Like Laser | Laser | 150mW "Power Rock" green laser for pointing out stars/planets/phenomena. To be used only by Astroc Officers after a laser safety training course. | 1 | 2013 |
| Orion Solar Filter | Solar Filter | 10.56" filter for placement on the front of a 10" aperture telescope. Used for safe observation of the sun. | 1 | ~2006 |
| Standard Eyepieces | Eyepiece | Range of eyepieces of varying quality, vintage, and magnification. From 4mm-40mm. Smaller number = higher magnification | 23+ | 1970s-present |
| Special Eyepieces | Eyepiece | One Meade Ultra Wide Angle 20mm 2" eyepiece (extremely wide viewing angle, very easy to use but very heavy). One Celestron 8-24mm zoom eyepiece (eliminates the need to switch eyepieces when changing desired magnification) | 2 | 2014-15 |
| Nikon Binoculars | Binoculars | Nikon 7223 Action 16 X 50mm Binoculars. High-powered, astronomy-optimized binoculars. | 1 | 2012 |
| Vista Star Stepper | Misc. Equipment | Clockwork mechanism. Not currently in use. | 1 | 1980s? |
| Variable speed drive | Misc. Equipment | For use with a clockwork mechanism | 1 | 1980s? |
| Reticle Ocular Assembly | Misc. Equipment | Used for polar alignment | 3 | 1980s? |
| Off-Axis guider | Misc. Equipment | Eliminates the need for a separate guide-scope when doing astrophotography. Redirects some of the light at a 90-degree angle before it hits the imaging camera sensor and directs it toward a guide camera sensor. | 2 | 1980s? |