Castelmartini Observatory - Tuscany, Italy

Castelmartini Observatory (code 160) - Tuscany, Italy

These pages are better viewed at 800x600 pixel resolution

italiano The CCD images have been taken by Enrico Prosperi, an italian electronics engineer, from his home-observatory at Larciano, a little town near Florence, in a suburban environment at 35m over the sea level. the panorama by night ...

The balcony where the telescope is installed is located no more than 60m away from a pub and 150m from a soccer playing field whose lights are often on during the observing sessions.

the telescope The telescope is a Meade SSC-10 equipped with the Computer Drive System (CDS #1697), the german mounting version of the more known LX200.

the CCD camera

The CCD camera is the french Hi-SIS 22, developed by the team of Christian Buil, a pioneer in the utilization of this type of sensors in astronomy.

I operate from inside by means of a computerized remote control. Two personal computers supersede all actions: one is linked to the telescope CDS while the other is connected to the CCD camera.

The astronomical CCD images acquired since 1994 (~1600) have been collected in a CD-ROM together with a selection of the best astronomical and image processing freeware and shareware.


Home	Images	Italiano

Enrico Prosperi -- Email: e.prosperi@itisfedi.pt.it
Professor of Electronics and Telecommunications
Istituto Tecnico Industriale "Silvano Fedi" - via Panconi 39 - 51100 Pistoia - Italy - Tel. +39-0573-23185/6

Enrico Prosperi graduated in Electronics Engineering at the University of Florence. He was then concerned with infrared and microwave radiometry, applied to bio-medicine and remote sensing. On such topics he also collaborated, as an external consultant, with electronic industries and with research institutions, developing a good experience in the field of digital image processing. In 1989, he was involved, as an instructor, with the International Workshop on Remote Sensing at the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (I.C.T.P.) in Trieste, Italy. Since 1984, he is a professor of Electronics in the Technical High-Schools and currently teaches Telecommunications at the I.T.I.S. "Silvano Fedi" in Pistoia, Tuscany. Amateur Astronomer since he was still a boy, he resumed only recently the ancient passion installing next to his residence the above described instrumentation, in the years 1993-94.