Fountainwood Observatory (Georgetown, Texas)

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Southwestern's large research-quality reflecting telescope was donated to the Physics Department by Max Allen, a local engineer and builder who was also an amateur astronomer. This Meade LX-200 with Schmidt-Cassegrain* optics and a 16" primary mirror has a digital CCD camera for taking digital images that can be viewed and processed on a computer. This instrument is used by faculty and students for research, and programs of general interest to the public are conducted each month.
*Schmidt-Cassegrain telescopes reflect incoming light several times inside the telescope before it finally is focused in the eyepiece. Light enters the far end of the tube via a Schmidt lens, is reflected off a focuser mirror to a secondary mirror, then is reflected in a more tightly focused beam to the eyepiece. This combination of refracting and reflecting technology yields terrific image quality, yet lets a telescope with an extremely compact tube have a very high focal length. Schmidt-Cassegrain telescopes are extremely portable, and their closed designs make them rugged and reliable. With wide apertures compared to their minimal overall lengths, they produce some of the clearest, most colorful images available and have great contrast if the internal optics are of high quality.