Hi, my name is Steve Bell. This is my astroimaging site. Here, I describe the telescope I use, and give links to the astroimages that I've taken. I do CCD imaging with SBIG ST-10XME and ST-2000XCM digital astrocameras, from a location SE of Denver, CO, about 10 miles NNE of Elizabeth, CO. The location has relatively dark mag 5.5 - 6.0 skies and lies at about a 6500 ft altitude. Even though higher than Denver, the location is not in the mountains, but somewhat out on the plains of Colorado, along the northern part of the Palmer Divide which has a slightly higher elevation than Denver. The seeing here ranges from about 2.5" - 3.5" in the winter, but as good as 1.5" - 2" in the summer when the jet stream stays well north. The seeing in the winter can also be as good as 2" or better when the jet stream isn't overhead.
The telescope I use is a 16" f/4.9 Newtonian (f/9.8 with a 2" 2x TeleVue PowerMate) that is permanently mounted inside a 10 ft Pro-Dome from Technical Innovations, Inc. The dome sits on a concrete slab in my backyard. I laid a concrete sidewalk to the dome, which significantly helps getting to the dome after a snowstorm after some shoveling (see side_view.jpg).
Please note that at the end of most of my image's pages, there are usually links to the fine pages of the Students for Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS). Each SEDS page contains very interesting astronomical information on the object of interest.
For anyone accessing this page to view and/or download my General Relativity and Atomic Theory papers, please click on the link at the bottom of the list.
Send any comments to: Steve Bell
