Imaging

As described in the previous pages, in the first years of operation, the two Avogadro Observatory Merlinos were used by two people, in addition to me and Luciano. Alessandro Milani was a co-owner of the first Merlino and used it very frequently producing many of the pictures presented here. The second observatory was much used by Luciano, who operated sometime also the first Merlino, essentialy for testing and hardware and software setup. However, in the 2016 – 2017, the observatory was used also by Matteo Collina who remotely took many photos, most of which are also presented here. In the same period, he was a beta tester of QHYCCD astronomy cameras. In this period he won several AAPODs.

During 2016-2017 the Avogadro Observatory was used also to carry out astronomical researches in collaboration with the Siena University, and in this period many variable stars where discovered in the frame of these researches. The results of these and the links to the related scientific information are also reported in this site.

The two Merlinos P.R.O. are identical with the only exceptions of the telescopes and the cameras used. For this reason this site presents the works of the two observatories under the same name Avogadro. The picture are discernible by the indication of the instruments used to take them. The two telescopes used in the two P.R.O.s are a GSO RC reflector with longer focal length and a Takahashi FSQ106 FD Refractor. Both telescopes are provided with focal reducers. The acronyms GSO and FSQ, used in the picture captions, allow to recognise what is the Merlino used to take them. The specifications of Merlino P.R.O.s, telescopes and cameras, together with those of all other equipment used, are reported in the Instrumentation section of the site.