Facilities
| Organization | Stardome Observatory |
|---|---|
| Location | One Tree Hill, Auckland, New Zealand |
| Wavelength regime | optical |
| Completion date | 1966 |
| Webpage | http://www.stardome.org.nz |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Telescope style | Cassegrain |
| Diameter | 0.5 m |
| Collecting area | 0.72 m² |
| Focal length | 6.65 m |
| Mounting | equatorial |
| Dome | spherical |
The planetarium was added during extensive additions in 1997. Seating 88 people within the 11 metre dome, it used a Zeiss ZKP3 star projector, 18 panorama and all-sky slide projectors, and a video projector. Some of the shows were produced by the Stardome while others were purchased and modified for local use. This was replaced with an E&S Digistar 3 computerised projection system in early 2008, utilising two Sony projectors. This has subsequently been upgraded to Digistar 4.
The primary fixed telescope is the 0.5 m Edith Winstone Blackwell Telescope (EWB) which is a classical Cassegrain reflector (f/13.3) manufactured by Carl Zeiss of Jena. It was installed in late 1966 and is one of about 20 comparable instruments produced by Zeiss. It is mounted on an offset German equatorial mount. The optical tube assembly weighs about 500 kg and the overall weight, including the mount, is 2500 kg.
The Zeiss telescope was purchased as a gift to the people of Auckland by the late Edith Winstone Blackwell MBE. It has been heavily used for both public viewing and research since being commissioned in 1967. In 2003 it underwent a major renovation.
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