Observatory & Gear Setup

A breakdown of the optical telescopes, cooled CMOS cameras, robotic mounts, and software tools powering PlanetJonny.

🔭Optical Tubes & Telescopes

Imaging Newtonian Reflector

Apertura CarbonStar 150

Features a lightweight carbon fiber tube (10.4 lbs) engineered to eliminate thermal focus drift, paired with fast f/4 optics for high-throughput deep-sky imaging.

Aperture: 150mm / 5.9" (Focal Length 600mm, f/4)
Target Type: Fast Deep-Sky Nebulae & Widefield Targets
Apochromatic Doublet Refractor

Sky-Watcher Evostar 80ED APO

Features FPL-53 extra-low dispersion (ED) synthetic fluorite glass matched with Schott BK-7 glass to virtually eliminate chromatic aberration and deliver high-contrast star fields.

Aperture: 80mm / 3.1" (Focal Length 600mm, f/7.5)
Target Type: Widefield Deep-Sky Nebulae & Star Clusters

📷Imaging Cameras

Primary Cooled Mono Camera

ZWO ASI1600MM Pro

4/3" Panasonic MN34230 Mono CMOS

16 Megapixels • 3.8µm Pixels • 12-bit ADC • -45°C Delta Cooling • Built-in DDR3 Buffer
Autoguiding & Planetary Camera

ZWO ASI120MM Mini

1/3" AR0130CS Mono CMOS

1.2 Megapixels • 3.75µm Pixels • USB 2.0 / ST4 Guide Port • Compact 1.25" Form Factor

⚙️Equatorial Mounts & Tracking

Strain Wave Gear Robotic Mount

ZWO AM5n Harmonic Drive

Ultra-portable harmonic drive mount for remote dark-sky field sessions.

Payload Capacity: 28 lbs without counterweights

Software Stack & Image Processing

Capture automation and guiding controlled via ZWO ASIAIR Plus. Stacking, calibration, and image post-processing carried out exclusively in PixInsight.

ZWO ASIAIR Plus Smart ControllerPixInsight (BlurXTerminator / StarXTerminator / SPCC)