Ray Zit Observatory
The Ray Zit Observatory houses the E-Scope. It is named for Ray Zit who
donated his
14" f/5 telescope and this observatory was built to house it.
Ray was an active member for several decades and served as Observatory
Director from 1977-80. The observatory is generally referred to by it's letter name: E-Shed.
The building was dedicated in 2002. Find out more from the Focal Point article and its dedication.
In 2014 it was replaced with the M-Scope, a Celestron Advanced
VX-8. In 2019 this scope was replaced by a 10 inch f/6.3 LX-200 (E-Scope) on a CGE PRO computerized equatorial mount.
Today, it houses a Stellarvue SVA130 EDT f/7 APO Triplet refractor with a reducer for f/5.8. It has a
QHY183C (a cooled, one-shot color CMOS camera using the 20MP Sony IMX183 sensor) for use with a dedicated imaging laptop.
The telescope sits on an Astro-Physics Mach1GTO mount.
Also, in 2014 the observatory was modified to effectively
raise the roof in order to provide more head room for the telescopes.
