Astronomers upgrade Schmidt telescope

CLEVELAND, May 21 (UPI) -- U.S. astronomers say they've upgraded the instrumentation used in the Burrell Schmidt telescope at the Kitt Peak National Observatory, expanding its view.

Case Western Reserve University astronomers said a new charged coupled device camera, installed on the university's telescope at the Tucson observatory will bring into clear view the faint sea of orphan stars strewn throughout the nearby Virgo cluster of galaxies.

Case Western Reserve University astronomer Paul Harding, the observatory's manager, designed and installed the new CCD system that is a larger and more sensitive version of the imaging technology found in everyday digital cameras.

The telescope's upgraded camera images an area of the sky that's twice as big as the old camera could view. Harding likens the new system to a camera that's been retrofitted to increase its film size from 35mm to a large format film size of several inches.

The CCD was fabricated at the University of Arizona and cost approximately $100,000.

The project included Case astronomers Chris Mihos and Heather Morrison, as well as students Craig Rudick and Colin Slater. Funding for the new camera came, in part, from the National Science Foundation.