As of early 2007, the 85-cm telescope at Xinglong
Station has been working on its prime focus, where a Princetion
Instrument MicroMAX 1024 BFT CCD camera together with an ACE
SmartFilter BVRI filters system are equipped. All the old instruments
attached to the Cassegrain focus are no longer supported. With this
change, the telescope provides a wider field-of-view of about 16'x 16'
at a scale of ~0.96 arcsecond per pixel and a deeper limit magnitude of
V~17 mag. High time-resolved multicolor photometry is featured in this
system. Furthermore, the CCD camera may function in a fast-readout mode
called Frame Transfer. Please refer to the '85cm archives' section on
this site for deatiled information on the instruments.
The telescope is dedicated to the photometry of pulsating variables,
eclipsing binaries, white dwarfs and related stars. We expect it
provides you to do time-series photometry of any temporal variations in the sky.
It is available to professional
astronomers from anywhere in China (in the world in the
future) who wish to observe. If you are interested in using our
telescope and instruments, you should complete an application form and
e-mail it to <aiying[at]bao.ac.cn> The telescope time application
form is a Microsoft Word document into
which you enter details of your application.
Allocation of observing times for the 85-cm telescope is managed every
six months. Since the second half of 2007, the
Department of Astronomy of Beijing Normal University, as a co-sponsor of the telescope, has a share of
a quarter of the telescope time. Remember to check this schedule for
possible changes
which may affect your observing run. If you want to make changes to
your observing request, contact us.
Deadlines for Submitting Observing Proposals
Download: Application
Form for Observing
Time on the 85-cm telescope