An astrograph is a telescope designed for the sole purpose of astrophotography. Astrographs are mostly used in wide-field astronomical surveys of the sky and for detection of objects such as asteroids, meteors, and comets. The invention of photography in the 1800s lead to designs dedicated to astrophotography, and they were also popular in the 20th century. For a long time, various chemicals were used that respond to light, often recorded on a glass plate or film emulsion. By the late 20th century, electronic detectors became more common with the data being stored electronically. An astrograph was common in observatories of this period, operated alongside instruments like the transit telescope, great refractors, and chronometers, or instruments for observing the Sun. Astrographs were often used to make surveys of the night sky, and one of the famous projects was Carte du Ciel. One of the famous discoveries using an astrograph was then-planet Pluto. Rather than looking through the telescope, it was discovered by using a device that compared images taken by an astrograph.
Design
Most research telescopes in this class are refractors, although there are many reflecting designs such as the Ritchey-Chrétien and catadioptrics such as the Schmidt camera. The main parameters of an Astrograph are the diameter and f-ratio of the objective, which determine the field of view and image scale on the photographic plate or CCD detector. The objective of an astrograph is usually not very large, on the order of. The shape of the focal plane is often designed to work in conjunction with a specific shaped photographic plate or CCD detector. The objective is designed to produce a particularly large, flat, and distortion-less image at the focal plane. They may even be designed to focus certain wavelengths of light to match the type of film they are designed to use. Wide-angle astrographs with short f-ratios are used for photographing a huge area of sky. Astrographs with higher f-ratios are used in more precise measurements. Many observatories of the world are equipped with the so-called normal astrographs with an aperture of around and a focal length of. The purpose of a "normal astrograph" is to create images where the scale of the image at the focal plane is a standard of approximately 60 arcsecs/mm.
Applications
Astrometry
Astrographs used in astrometry record images that are then used to "map" the positions of objects over a large area of the sky. These maps are then published in catalogs to be used in further study or to serve as reference points for deep-space imaging.
Stellar classification
Astrographs used for stellar classification sometimes consist of two identical telescopes on the same mount. Each sky field can be simultaneously photographed in two colors. Each telescope may have individually designed non-achromatic objectives to focus the desired wavelength of light which is paired with the respective color-sensitive photographic plate. In other cases a single telescope is used to make two exposures of the same part of the sky with different filters and color sensitive film used on each exposure. Two-color photography lets astronomers measure the color, as well as the brightness, of each star imaged. Colors tell the star's "temperature”. Knowing the color type and magnitudes lets astronomers determine the distance of a star. Sky fields that are photographed twice, decades apart in time, will reveal a nearby star's proper motion when measured against the background of distant stars or galaxies.
By taking two exposures of the same section of the sky days or weeks apart, it is possible to find objects such as asteroids, meteors, comets, variable stars, novae, and even unknown planets. By comparing the pair of images, using a device such as a blink comparator, astronomers are able to find objects that moved or changed brightness between the two exposures or simply appear in one image only, as in the case of a nova or meteor. Sometimes objects can even be found in one exposure since a fast moving object will appear as a "line" in a long exposure. One well-known case of an astrograph used in a discovery is Clyde Tombaugh’s discovery of the dwarf planet Pluto in 1930. Tombaugh was given the job of hunting for a suspected "9th planet" to be achieved by systematically photographing the area of the sky around the ecliptic. Tombaugh used Lowell Observatory's , f/5.3 refractor astrograph, which recorded images on glass plates.
Use in amateur astrophotography
In the amateur astronomy field many types of commercial and amateur built telescopes are designed for astrophotography and labeled "astrographs". Optical designs of amateur astrographs vary widely but include apochromatic refractors, variations of Cassegrain reflectors, and Newtonian reflectors. Most optical designs do not produce large, flat, and well-corrected imaging fields and therefore require some type of optical correction by way of field flatteners or coma correctors. Amateur astrographs typically have purpose-built focusers, are constructed of thermally stable materials like carbon fiber, and are put onheavy duty mounts to facilitate accurate tracking of deep sky objects for long periods of time.
