Hardware

In this section of the documentation the hardware used in th HAlpha project is described and some practical tips for the maintenance of the telescope and camera. The whole system is located on the WSG in the basement of the PMOD/WRC in Davos.

Telescope

We use a Coronado H-alpha solar telescope which is perfect to see features as filaments, plages and granulation as well as prominences on the edge of the solar disk. The telescope is equipped with 2 filters to reduce the bandpass to 0.5 Angstrom.

Camera

We use the QHY5III 200M from QHYCCD. This is a monochrome camera with a CMOS chip. For more information go to the website of the camera.

Computing device

We use the RaspberryPi 5 with a cooling fan to optimise the performance and obtain the results faster.

Maintenance

If there is dust on the camera or the telescope you can clean it with some dry nitrogen which is located next to the solar telescope. Try to avoid cleaning the lens and the detector with materials that could scratch the surface of the lens or the detector.