         
|
This is where we announce the most recent additions to our web site. If you've visited us before and want to know what's changed, take a look here first.
|
January 27, 2009
Evolution-30 update:
Production has begun!
Last week Toney Mulherin started writing CNC programs and fabrication parts for the prototype Evo-30 on the bridge mill. There are three phases to production of the telescope parts. Phase one involves fabricating all of the parts that start out as flat plate. These parts are made on the CNC bridge mill. Included in this list are things like the ground plate, the rocker box bottom and walls, the primary mirror cell, spider vanes and secondary cage rings. Toney will complete phase one by the end of this week. Read more. . . .
December 21, 2008
Evolution-30 update:
We’ve made significant progress on the Evo-30 project. Dave Pasley has completed the design work and we have begun production of the prototype. As you can imagine, there is a lot of detail work in the electrical systems including the drive motors and encoders. Dave has completed all mechanical details down to the last screw. There will still be some detail work after we assemble the prototype, like creating a clean wiring harness, and making the shroud but these things are better left until we have the real thing to work with. Read more. . . .
October 13, 2008
Invitation to Participate in the Long Term Mirror Coating Study
This experiment seeks to determine the general rate of deterioration of each of several different coating types in various environments. We will assemble kits containing one of each of the different coating types (six samples per kit). The sample kits will be distributed to study participants. Our goal is to have the samples live with the participant’s telescope, experiencing the same environmental conditions that the telescope mirror experiences.
The entire sample kit will be retuned to us periodically for inspection and reflectivity measurement. We will take reflectivity measurements of the samples prior to and after cleaning. This will allow us to determine any loss of reflectivity due to age and environmental conditions for each coating sample. It will also allow us to determine the loss of reflectivity due to dust and other contaminants on the mirror and make some recommendations as to cleaning frequency.
As data is periodically collected, it will be analyzed and the results will be made available to the study participants and to the public via this web site and a Yahoo group that will be established for ongoing discussion purposes.
As data comes in we hope to answer the following general questions:
- How does the reflectivity of each coating decrease with time?
- How do environmental conditions affect the reflectivity of each coating?
- How can one tell when it is time to recoat a mirror?
Read More. . . .
October 6, 2008
Introducing the OMI Evolution-30 F/4.5 Dobsonian 
For about a year now OMI has been developing and planning the introduction of a 30 inch Dobsonian telescope. We just made the first formal introduction of the scope at the Okie-Tex Star Party last week. At this point the scope exists only in virtual reality as CAD drawings. We will begin fabrication of the prototype this month and plan to demo the working prototype at the Texas Star Party in April of 2009. I’ll post regular updates here as we work our way through the production of the first scope so stop by occasionally to see our progress.
Read more. . . .
April 20, 2008
48" Dob project
In June of 07 we started a project to build a 48" Dobsonian for Jimi Lowrey in Ft. Davis TX. The 'scope is finished and has been installed at Jimi's observatory.
Jimi's comment: "This primary mirror is hittin on all cylinders" sums up the optical performance very well. With the Paracor in the focuser, stars are pin points with 4 crisp diffraction spikes on brighter stars. The color we saw under the full moon sky is a good indication of the light grasp and contrast that the optics will provide on a good dark night.
We will present an article in the June issue of Astronomy Technology Today detailing the project from start to finish.
Read more and view gallery. . . .
November 2007: "Demystifying Mirror Coating Technology" article in Astronomy Technology Today magazine by James Mulherin. Download the article here: Demystifying Mirror Coating.pdf
November 2007: "The Making Of The Sierra Stars Observatory" article in Astronomy Technology Today magazine. Download the article here: Sierra Stars - Astronomy Technology Today.pdf
April 2007: Sierra Stars Observatory to begin operation May 1st, 2007. For more information please see the Press Release. For more information please check the web site of Sierra Stars Observatory.
January 2007: OMI wins contract to build a 0.6 meter telescope for The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey. The telescope is set for installation in the fall of 2007 at the TUBITAK National Observatory.
January 7, 2005: OMI wins contract to build the second SuperWASP robotic telescope mount for Keele University, UK. The second mount will be installed at Sutherland Station of the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) near Cape Town, South Africa.
December 15, 2004: James and Toney travel to Seoul South Korea to install an OMI CC06 Telescope at the Seoul Science High School for Gifted Students.
June 24 2004: The project team for the SuperWASP project chose OMI to build the mount for the SuperWASP project back in 2002. The ultra-wide angle photometric survey of bright stars project in La Palma is now fully operational in it is getting a lot of worldwide recognition.
We are very proud to have contributed to this very interesting and exciting project whose objective is to search for extrasolar planets. To learn more about this the SuperWASP project check out the following links:
www.superwasp.org
www.pparc.ac.uk/Nw/superwasp.asp
|
|
+ Larger image |
May 20 2004: Seoul Science High School in Seoul Korea purchased a 0.6-meter CC06 telescope system for general astronomy education and research utilizing photometry and other CCD imaging technologies.
April 15 2004: 0.8-meter CC08 now installed at the University of Barcelona's Consorci de Montsec Observatory site.
AND
0.5-meter telescope installed for the University of the Virgin Islands Observatory.
November 25, 2002: Read our new article entitled "Planning Your OMI Observatory System" in the Technical Articles section of our web site.
October 14, 2002: Queens University of Northern Ireland, UK selected OMI to build a robotic mount for the Super WASP Project. SuperWASP's science goals include study of exoplanetary transits, orphan gamma-ray burst afterglows, supernovae, X-ray binaries and CVs, near-Earth asteroids, flare stars, and other variable or transient phenomena. Don Pollacco, a member of the project team, had this to say when asked why Queens University chose OMI for their project:: "The reason that we went to OMI is because we had heard good reports on the hardware (mount etc) but also because of Talon, as it is the most comprehensive observatory control software available for computer control in the Linux environment. We didn't want to use windows or to develop a product ourselves." To read more about the Super WASP project, check out the following web link: http://star.pst.qub.ac.uk/~ras/SuperWASP/SWindex.html
|
