Astropolis has two well-equipped observation domes containing all kinds of telescopes and accessories. We have a small 3 meter and a large 6 meter dome. The small dome was deliberately placed next to the building. And this for several reasons … By placing the small dome on the ground floor and providing it with a wide steel sliding door, it offers unhindered access for wheelchair users. The small dome is also located next to the 35 km long ‘Green Ribbon’ route. A cycling and walking path that circles Ostend. Anyone who passes us, on foot or by bike, can see us from the small dome. And come and observe. Which reduces the threshold to zero…
The small dome
The small 3 m dome, or ‘Sun Dome’ as we call it, contains a Cassegrain telescope, a camera and a spectroscope. The whole thing is on a computer-controlled H-EQ5 mount. All these instruments are optimized to study the Sun 100% safely. In addition to this setup, we also have three mobile solar telescopes: a SolarScope box, a small PST H-alpha telescope on an EQ3 mount and a small 50 mm H-alpha telescope on an EQ5 mount. These telescopes, along with some informational panels, are typically used during public observations during the summer months.
The great dome
The large 6 m dome, on top of the roof, contains two telescopes, a camera and numerous accessories. All these instruments are optimized to study the Moon, planets, comets and deep-sky objects such as nebulae and galaxies.
The mount that controls the telescopes is the L-500 from the series of the American company Planewave instruments. The large telescope is a TS 12″ (30 cm) telescope of the Richey-Chretien type which, once there are sufficient financial resources, we would replace with a 14″ or 17″ variant. The small telescope is an Explore Scientific 5″ ( 12.7 cm) refractor.