L'osservatorio

Welcome to Belluno Astronomical Observatory, a private observatory located in the outskirts of Belluno, in the heart of the Dolomite mountains. Our observatory is situated in a region known for its clear and dark night skies, surrounded by breathtaking natural beauty.

Observatory Site

Our observatory is nestled in the garden of our residence, offering a unique and intimate setting for astronomical exploration. Despite its modest size, the observatory is equipped with state-of-the-art technology and designed to be controlled remotely from our residence ensuring efficient and flexible operation. The site has acceptable levels of light pollution, allowing us to conduct astronomical observations.

Telescope

Our primary telescope, affectionately known as ‘Belluno41’, is a 41cm diameter f/5 Newtonian, mounted on a sturdy equatorial fork mount. This setup allows for smooth and precise tracking of celestial objects. The mount is equipped with a computerized control system, which can be remotely controlled.

Instrumentation

Our research is supported by the FOSC-E5535 (Faint Object Spectrograph and Camera), a custom-designed and self-built instrument capable of capturing both images and spectra. The FOSC features a 2.5 arcsecond wide long slit, a 55mm focal length collimator, and a 100 lines/mm diffraction grating. Then the light is focused by a 35mm lens, which is coupled to a cooled CCD camera. Notably, the slit and grating can be inserted or removed from the optical path, allowing the FOSC to switch between spectrographic and camera modes. The “E” in the FOSC-E5535 indicates that the spectrograph is electrically controlled remotely. The numbers “5535” represent the focal lengths of the collimator (55mm) and the objective lens (35mm), respectively. When operating in spectrograph mode, the FOSC achieves a resolution of approximately 100 at 6500Å. In camera mode, the FOSC provides a resolution of 0.73”/pixel and a corrected circular unfiltered field of view of approximately 15 arcminutes.