Observatory reconstruction

In early May we noticed that wooden base of the building is attacked by insects and infected by fungi (mildew). This is critical for wood as it begins to disintegrate, so we were forced to replace damaged wood. Replacement was difficult as three basic parts which are the base for north/eastern part of the building were heavily damaged. The roof was not allowed to move since beginning of May 2007. In September we were able to put the building to the operations again replacing parts of wooden base, floor in the control room and 3 piers which are supporting the roof  when it is opened to the north. Reconstruction will be continued with adding additional pier to support new telescope and new fence to improve stability and safety of the observatory.

January 28, 2007

With serious observations it was more and more obvious that we need additional sensors to measure sky quality during observations. To achieve that we installed new CCD camera (Starlight-Xpress MX916) on 50mm f/1.8 lens which is taking images around Polaris. Software which we wrote measures extinction and sky brightness so that observer can react in case of bad or good conditions and prepare suitable observing targets. Also seeing is measured from images which are being taken on all 3 automated telescopes so that we can see how seeing changes during night and also react with suitable object selection for imaging.

December 25, 2006

Lightcurve of variable star GK Per. Lightcurve was taken during December 19-23 with Rezman III telescope, G filter and CCD. 

March 5, 2006

Rezman IV telescope is now installed at the observatory (near Rezman III) . Telescope is equipped with Starlight-Xpress MX-916 camera and is controlled from computer inside control room and also remotely.

January 29, 2006

Rezika - meteor camera was put in operation after long period of testing and problems with the bug in software. 

New web pages were developed in January 2006 and new web server installed. We'll have much more space to put images and movies online.

We started on new projects such as variable star observing and solar observing. Both projects are in testing phase - more will be published soon as we have first results.

October 9, 2005

Rezman III telescope and building are prepared for automated work. New camera (SBIG ST-8XME) for RezmanIII has arrived and was installed recently. Some minor details are still not finished, but we finished with reconstruction of the observatory buidling and telescopes. Observations and perhaps some discoveries are now our primary goal.

October 9, 2005

Za nami je tradicionalno spikino srečanje na Kisovcu. Poslušali smo naslednja predavanja:

1. Herman Mikuž, Problematika svetlobnega onesnaženja:

Predstavljeno bo nekaj zanimivih ugotovitev o širjenju umetne svetlobe v atmosferi in pokazani novi posnetki neba iz različnih lokacij, ki te ugotovitve potrjujejo. Prisotne bo Herman obvestil o tekočih aktivnostih in jih povabil, da se pridružijo pobudi. Če bo interes in čas (slabo vreme), bi se lahko tudi pogovorili kako okrepiti aktivnosti, pridobivanju večjega števila aktivnih članov, strategiji nastopanja v javnosti in na MOP, ipd.

2. Javor Kac, Opazovanje meteorjev z uporabo CCD/video kamer

Javor ima na dveh lokacijah (Slovenska Bistrica in observatorij Rezman) nameščeni posebni kameri, ki snemata določen del neba, ki skozi celo noč snemata nebo in avtomatsko detektirata meteorje. Javor bo predstavil tehnologijo (kamere, objektivi) in programsko opremo ter strategijo opazovanj in seveda prve rezultate.

3. Rok Palčič, Robotizacija observatorija Rezman in Projekt iskanja supernov

Od letošnjega februarja potekajo na observatoriju Rezman opazovanja v robotskem načinu - brez prisotnosti opazovalca na observatoriju. Opazovanja so avtomatizirana, kar pomeni, da operater predhodno nastavi opazovane objekte, ki jih teleskopi snemajo, medtem ko operater lahko spi. V ta namen je bilo narejenih veliko novosti od katerih bo posebej predstavljena avtomatika ob kritičnih situacijah, vremenskih motnjah (senzor oblakov) ter tudi sama informatizacija na observatoriju. V drugem delu bo predstavljen program iskanja supernov – od strategije iskanja, izbranih galaksijah, kjer se iščejo supernove, do rezultatov - čeprav še nismo odkrili nobene:(

Kar pa nam je astronomom še bolj pomembno, pa je to, da smo imeli priložnost izmenjati mnenja in izkušnje. Žal nam le vreme ni služilo, sicer bi bilo tudi veliko več ljudi (bilo nas je le dobrih 50).

August 21, 2005

Additional meteor camera was added recently (Watec 120N with custom software and hardware which is detecting meteors automatically). In the next few weeks we'll start with monitoring of one part of the sky from the observatory. This project is being done in cooperation with meteor and comet observer Javor Kac. Details to follow.

August 21, 2005

Rezman III building is still being finished... (see some photos). Reconstruction is partially made also in old building as we have some problems with overheating of the control room.

August 2, 2005

Rezman III building is being finished at the moment. The telescope is installed and will be tested in the next days followed by collimation and polar alignment. The optics currently is old 40cm f/4.5 parabolic mirror with corrector. The observatory building is expected to be finished in 3 weeks - the telescope will follow few weeks later. In fall Rezman III should be ready for automated imaging.

June 18, 2005

Installation works on the new Rezman III building were started.

May 29, 2005

Grinding of primary blank was started. Currently polishing is being done on special machine. We finished with grinding in one day. It's 56cm blank for Rezman III with f/3.5 curvature. After polishing which requires 50 hours, Franc will work on paraboloidal shape followed by coating in Germany.

May 21, 2005

New building is getting its form in the workshop and will be put together for tests in 2 weeks. Also we have started to work on optics and optical tube assembly.

April 25, 2005

Reconstruction of Rezman III building is going quite slow at the moment. Concrete base is done, everything else didn't even start so end of June is targeted to finish the building.

March 20, 2005

Reconstruction works on new building for Rezman III telescope were started in March. New building should be finished at the end of May 2005.

February 10, 2005

Last 3 nights were fully remotely operated for Rezman II. Rezman I is now functional with even beter pointing (under 1 arcminute RMS) and guiding (6 minutes tested in any position) than Rezman II. We still have to test coma corrector on Rezman I but also whithout it it's possible to do serious work. As full moon approaches we'll install safety switches for Rezman I which means we'll have second remotely controlled telescope. For robotic use we still miss some pieces of software which are being developed at the moment. It's planned to start fully robotic observations in April 2005 with both telescopes. Rezman III will be the focus for the rest of the calendar year 2005 and probably further... In April we'll start with roof reconstruction followed by its automation and later (probably in fall/winter 2005) mount reconstruction. Rezman III mount is already installed but will be improved to achieve even beter guiding and pointing and most important it will get automation features.

January 8, 2005

First light for Rezman I. The telescope is not ready for remote use yet.

December 18, 2004

OTA and primary mirror (14" f/3.6) for Rezman I were mounted on December 18th. Now we'll continue with collimation and mount alignment. First images are expected in 3 nights of clear skies (if there will be some free time for us...). Tube itself was designed with the goal to be able to accommodate additional 4" refractor. Later covers for mechanical parts and safety sensors will be added (in January 2005).

December 6, 2004

All-sky camera is in testing phase - see observatory page. In a month (depends on weather) it will be ready to be in full production during observations.

November 14, 2004

Rezman I mount was installed at observatory. OTA will be ready in December.

November 4, 2004

New pier is being finished at observatory for Rezman I telescope.

October 25, 2004

New mount for telescope Rezman I was tested in workshop with sucess. It will be ready for installation in 3 weeks.

October 22, 2004

Telescope Rezman I was uninstalled from pier.

October 22, 2004

Cloud sensor from Boltwood was installed and is in testing phase.

September 25, 2004

Weather details are now pushed to web server every hour. Also safety cameras were installed to control the observatory.