Observatory at College Camp

The SUNY Oneonta Observatory is located at College Camp on the northeastern side of campus in Oneonta, New York.

The Observatory is home to the largest optical telescope in the state of New York, a computerized f/4 Newtonian reflector with a 1-meter (40-inch) primary mirror. The telescope, designated the NTT-40, was constructed by JMI Telescopes of Lakewood, Colorado; technical information can be found at the JMI NTT-40 webpage. In addition we have two observatory domes housing 16-inch and 14-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescopes, several smaller Schmidt-Cassegrain telescopes, and seven sheds housing 4-inch refractor telescopes. The observatory is equipped with a variety of eyepieces, several electronic CCD cameras, an adaptive optics unit and a spectrograph. Among the collection of SBIG CCD cameras there is a research-grade SBIG CCD camera equipped with a filter wheel. Available filter sets include the RGBCL set used for amateur astrophotography as well as the Johnson-Cousins UBVRI and SDSS ugriz standard filter sets. Narrow-band H-alpha and O III filters are also available.

Currently, the observatory is used in our upper-level astronomy courses, including  Astronomy 2700 (Our Solar System), Astronomy 2710 (Stars and Galaxies), and Astronomy 3600 (Observational Methods). The facilities are also available for independent research projects by upper-level astronomy students. We also host observing nights that are open to the public, where people can view astronomical objects such as planets, star clusters, planetary nebulae and galaxies through the eyepieces.