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Skinakas Observatory
Skinakas Observatory ( el, Αστεροσκοπείο Σκίνακα) is an astronomical observatory located on the eponymous peak of Psiloritis, on the island of Crete, Greece. It has a 1.3 m modified Ritchey–Chrétien telescope and a 0.3 m Schmidt–Cassegrain telescope, which are operated by the University of Crete and the Foundation for Research & Technology – Hellas. History The idea to create a site of astronomical research at Skinakas was conceived in the summer of 1984. Soon after the construction of a road to the mountain peak commenced. The University of Crete, the Foundation for Research and Technology - Hellas (FORTH, former Research Center of Crete) and the Max-Planck-Institut für Extraterrestrische Physik (Germany) agreed to build and operate together a telescope with the purpose of providing modern education in Astronomy to University students and also of supporting astronomical observations with emphasis on the research of extended sky objects such as c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Crete
Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, and Corsica. Crete rests about south of the Greek mainland, and about southwest of Anatolia. Crete has an area of and a coastline of 1,046 km (650 mi). It bounds the southern border of the Aegean Sea, with the Sea of Crete (or North Cretan Sea) to the north and the Libyan Sea (or South Cretan Sea) to the south. Crete and a number of islands and islets that surround it constitute the Region of Crete ( el, Περιφέρεια Κρήτης, links=no), which is the southernmost of the 13 top-level administrative units of Greece, and the fifth most populous of Greece's regions. Its capital and largest city is Heraklion, on the north shore of the island. , the region had a population of 636,504. The Dodecanese are located to the no ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Telecompressor
A telecompressor or focal reducer is an optical element used to reduce focal length, increase lens speed, and in some instances improve optical transfer function (OTF) performance. It is also widely known under the name “Speed Booster”, which is the commercial name of a line of telecompressors by the manufacturer Metabones. Popular applications include photography, videography, and astrophotography. In astrophotography, these qualities are most desirable when taking pictures of nearby large objects, such as nebulae. The effects and uses of the telecompressor are largely opposite to those of the teleconverter or Barlow lens. A combined system of a lens and a focal reducer has smaller back focus than the lens alone; this places restrictions on lenses and cameras that focal reducer might be used with. Lens adapters that include telecompressors are useful with digital mirrorless cameras. By combining a telecompressor within a lens adapter, mirrorless cameras can use the lenses of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Interacting Galaxy
Interacting galaxies (''colliding galaxies'') are galaxies whose gravitational fields result in a disturbance of one another. An example of a minor interaction is a satellite galaxy disturbing the primary galaxy's spiral arms. An example of a major interaction is a galactic collision, which may lead to a galaxy merger. Satellite interaction A giant galaxy interacting with its satellites is common. A satellite's gravity could attract one of the primary's spiral arms. Alternatively, the secondary satellite can dive into the primary galaxy, as in the Sagittarius Dwarf Elliptical Galaxy diving into the Milky Way. That can possibly trigger a small amount of star formation. Such orphaned clusters of stars were sometimes referred to as "blue blobs" before they were recognized as stars. Galaxy collision Colliding galaxies are common during galaxy evolution. The extremely tenuous distribution of matter in galaxies means these are not collisions in the traditional sense of the wor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Optical Filter
An optical filter is a device that selectively transmits light of different wavelengths, usually implemented as a glass plane or plastic device in the optical path, which are either dyed in the bulk or have interference coatings. The optical properties of filters are completely described by their frequency response, which specifies how the magnitude and phase of each frequency component of an incoming signal is modified by the filter. Filters mostly belong to one of two categories. The simplest, physically, is the absorptive filter; then there are interference or dichroic filters. Many optical filters are used for optical imaging and are manufactured to be transparent; some used for light sources can be translucent. Optical filters selectively transmit light in a particular range of wavelengths, that is, colours, while absorbing the remainder. They can usually pass long wavelengths only (longpass), short wavelengths only (shortpass), or a band of wavelengths, blocking both lo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charge-coupled Device
A charge-coupled device (CCD) is an integrated circuit containing an array of linked, or coupled, capacitors. Under the control of an external circuit, each capacitor can transfer its electric charge to a neighboring capacitor. CCD sensors are a major technology used in digital imaging. In a CCD image sensor, pixels are represented by p-doped metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS) capacitors. These MOS capacitors, the basic building blocks of a CCD, are biased above the threshold for inversion when image acquisition begins, allowing the conversion of incoming photons into electron charges at the semiconductor-oxide interface; the CCD is then used to read out these charges. Although CCDs are not the only technology to allow for light detection, CCD image sensors are widely used in professional, medical, and scientific applications where high-quality image data are required. In applications with less exacting quality demands, such as consumer and professional digital cameras, act ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Andor Technology
Andor Technology Ltd is a developer and manufacturer of high performance light measuring solutions (scientific digital cameras). It became a subsidiary of Oxford Instruments after it was purchased for £176 million in December 2013. The company is based in Belfast, Northern Ireland and now employs over 400 staff across the group at its offices in Belfast, Japan, China, Switzerland and the US. Andor Technology designs, manufactures and sells scientific imaging equipment including charge-coupled device (CCD), electron-multiplying CCD (EMCCD), scientific CMOS (sCMOS - an improved Active pixel sensor) and Intensified charge-coupled device camera systems, spectroscopy instrumentation, and microscopy systems. Background Andor Technology was set up by its founders, Dr. Hugh Cormican, Dr. Donal Denvir and Mr. Mike Pringle in the mid-1980s. While studying at Queen's University Belfast, they "used their physics know-how to build a highly sensitive digital camera...as a tool for thei ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Autoguider
An autoguider is an automatic electronic guidance tool used in astronomy to keep a telescope pointed precisely at an object being observed. This prevents the object from drifting across the field of view during long-exposures which would create a blurred or elongated image. Usage Imaging of dim celestial targets, usually deep sky objects, requires exposure times of many minutes, particularly when narrowband images are being taken. In order for the resulting image to maintain usable clarity and sharpness during these exposures, the target must be held at the same position within the telescope's field of view during the whole exposure; any apparent motion would cause point sources of light (such as stars) to appear as streaks, or the object being photographed to appear blurry. Even computer-tracked mounts and GoTo telescopes do not eliminate the need for tracking adjustments for exposures beyond a few minutes, as astrophotography demands an extremely high level of precision that thes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Astronomical Spectroscopy
Astronomical spectroscopy is the study of astronomy using the techniques of spectroscopy to measure the spectrum of electromagnetic radiation, including visible light, ultraviolet, X-ray, infrared and radio waves that radiate from stars and other celestial objects. A stellar spectrum can reveal many properties of stars, such as their chemical composition, temperature, density, mass, distance and luminosity. Spectroscopy can show the velocity of motion towards or away from the observer by measuring the Doppler shift. Spectroscopy is also used to study the physical properties of many other types of celestial objects such as planets, nebulae, galaxies, and active galactic nuclei. Background Astronomical spectroscopy is used to measure three major bands of radiation in the electromagnetic spectrum: visible light, radio waves, and X-rays. While all spectroscopy looks at specific bands of the spectrum, different methods are required to acquire the signal depending on the frequenc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Emeritus
''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title the rank of the last office held". In some cases, the term is conferred automatically upon all persons who retire at a given rank, but in others, it remains a mark of distinguished service awarded selectively on retirement. It is also used when a person of distinction in a profession retires or hands over the position, enabling their former rank to be retained in their title, e.g., "professor emeritus". The term ''emeritus'' does not necessarily signify that a person has relinquished all the duties of their former position, and they may continue to exercise some of them. In the description of deceased professors emeritus listed at U.S. universities, the title ''emeritus'' is replaced by indicating the years of their appointmentsThe Protoc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rector (academia)
A rector (Latin for 'ruler') is a senior official in an educational institution, and can refer to an official in either a university or a secondary school. Outside the English-speaking world the rector is often the most senior official in a university, whilst in the United States the most senior official is often referred to as president and in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth of Nations the most senior official is the chancellor, whose office is primarily ceremonial and titular. The term and office of a rector can be referred to as a rectorate. The title is used widely in universities in EuropeEuropean nations where the word ''rector'' or a cognate thereof (''rektor'', ''recteur'', etc.) is used in referring to university administrators include Albania, Austria, the Benelux, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Malta, Moldova, North Macedonia, Poland, Portugal, Romani ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Photovoltaic System
A photovoltaic system, also PV system or solar power system, is an electric power system designed to supply usable solar power by means of photovoltaics. It consists of an arrangement of several components, including solar panels to absorb and convert sunlight into electricity, a solar inverter to convert the output from direct current, direct to alternating current, as well as photovoltaic mounting system, mounting, solar cable, cabling, and other electrical accessories to set up a working system. It may also use a solar tracking system to improve the system's overall performance and include an rechargeable battery, integrated battery. PV systems convert light directly into electricity, and are not to be confused with other solar technologies, such as concentrated solar power or Solar thermal energy, solar thermal, used for heating and cooling. A solar array only encompasses the ensemble of solar panels, the visible part of the PV system, and does not include all the other hardw ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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