instruments

INSTRUMENTS

BUCHAREST | CLUJ-NAPOCA | TIMISOARA

BUCHAREST

CASSEGRAIN TELESCOPE

It was set up by the Zeiss-Jena firm in 1964. It is endowed with a photoelectric photometer with photomultiplier of EMI 9502 B type and with UBV-Johnson filters. The telescope is used mainly for the observation of variable stars.
The telescope (50/750 cm) is endowed with a CCD camera SBIG ST-6 V with the array dimensions 8.6 x 6.5 mm, number of pixels 375 x 242 and pixel sizes 23 x 27 microns.

SOLAR REFRACTOR

For visual and photographic observations of the solar photosphere in integral light, a Carl Zeiss Jena refractor (13/195 cm) is used.

A H-alpha filter (6563 A) of Halle-Lyot-Ohman type, mounted on a special refractor (8/120 cm), is used for photographic observations of chromospheric formations (filaments, prominences, flares).

GREAT MERIDIAN CIRCLE

The Meridian Circle (19/235 cm) is of Gauthier-Prin construction, having a Merz-Steinheil objective of 19 cm diameter and 235 cm focal length. The instrument has two declination circles each of 1 m diameter, divided at every 5'. The telescope is endowed with an impersonal micrometer. The collimation of the optical axis is measured by means of two meridian marks located at about 80-100 m from the instrument.

ASTROGRAPH

The Prin-Merz double astrograph (38/600 cm) has an objective of 38 cm diameter and 600 cm focal length. Photographic plates of 24 x 24 cm are used; the instrument has a field of 2° x 2°. The plates are measured on an Ascorecord machine (0.1). A HiSis 22 CCD camera was also attached in 1995 to this instrument.

SCHMIDT-CASSEGRAIN TELESCOPE

A Schmidt-Cassegrain MEADE 10"LX 50 telescope (25/254 cm) with a focal length of 254 cm is endowed with a JMB solar filter.

DANJON ASTROLABE

In 1993, a Danjon astrolabe (10/100 cm) was transferred from Brussels to Bucharest, within the collaboration among our Institute, the Royal Observatory of Belgium and the Paris Observatory. The astrolabe was set up by F. Chollet from Paris Observatory, at the beginning of November 1993. The astrolabe is connected to a computer by a chronograph card.

FREQUENCY AND TIME STANDARDS
The time base consists of 6 high-stability quartz oscillators, 3 made by Rohde & Schwarz in 1967 and 3 made by Thompson in 1980. Their long-term stability is about 10-11 . To improve the precision of our time-standards, we applied a synchronization method based on time-standard signals received by the GNSS-300T, an eighteen parallel channel, single freqency (L1), coarse-acquisition code (C/A), integrated GPS/GLONASS receiver. It allows time comparisons (time transfer) with an accuracy of 60 ns, provided the antenna coordinates are known with an accuracy of 30 cm. Time transfer is implemented according to the standards established by the CCTF time transfer standards. For emergency cases, when GNSS-300T cannot receive the standards signals, a cluster of standards is constituted from the 6 high-stability quartz oscillators. In this case (according to BIPM method) the value of time standard is computed with an accuracy of 0.1 ms.

COMPUTATION TECHNIQUES
The powerful computational platform consists of:
- a superscalar computer (Silicon Graphics Power Challenge M), one processor R 8,000 64 Mb RAM, 2 (b secondary cache, speed 300 M flops);

- a graphical workstation INDY (B 2 Mb RAM, 1Mb secondary cache, speed 150 (flops) NFS;

- a PC-computer network.

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CLUJ-NAPOCA

NEWTON TELESCOPE
(50.8/250 cm) It was set up in Cluj, in 1932, and it was moved outside the city in 1976, on the Feleac hill, at an altitude of 750 meters. It has an equatorial fork mounting and also a refractor of Prin construction (20.32/300 cm). It is endowed with a photoelectric photometer with a photomultiplier of EMI 955 80 B type, a UBV Johnson filter and an analytic measurement system with recorder (chart recording of "Kipp & Zonnen" BD 6 and "Tesla" E 28 types).

SCHMIDT-CASSEGRAIN
TELESCOPE
(40/406.4 cm)
A Schmidt-Cassegrain MEADE 16"LX 200 SCT telescope with a focal length of 406.4 cm is equipped with a CCD camera having the following characteristics: CCD chip - KODAK KAF -0400, dimensions - 6.90 x 4.60 mm, pixels - 768 x 512, pixel size - 9 square microns.

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TIMISOARA

CASSEGRAIN TELESCOPE
(30/169 cm)
This telescope is equipped with a photomultiplier of EMI 9862 Q type. At first it was set up in Timisoara for didactic purposes, but for several years it has been used for research activities, namely for observations of variable stars.

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