Members are invited to borrow from the society's small collection of astronomical equipment. If you are contemplating buying binoculars or a telescope of your own
and would like to find out which one you should buy, first think of borrowing from the KAS for a test run.
Equipment is loaned out on a first-come, first-served basis. Equipment is loaned for a one-month period. However, a member can continue
to use it after the one-month period if no other requests are made. At the end of the loan period, the person borrowing the equipment agrees
to return it to the KAS at a normally scheduled general meeting.
To borrow something, download and fill out its check-out form. Then
contact the KAS Equipment Manager with as much advance
notice as possible. Most equipment is usually in constant circulation, so arrangements will need to be made to have the item at the next
general meeting. A current membership card is required.
Please make sure all the items listed on the check-out form are present and in working order. You are responsible for any damaged or missing
accessories upon the equipment's return. Any misuse may impact the future use of KAS equipment.
For more information about our loan program or to make a reservation, please contact:
Joe Comiskey
Equipment Manager
Orion ShortTube 80 EQ Refractor
Orion's highly popular 80-mm refractor is the ultimate grab-and-go telescope. It'll fit into any car, and setup takes minutes. You'll love its bright, wide-field views of star
clusters and nebulae. The EQ-1 German equatorial mount allows smooth manual tracking with the slow-motion cables.
These accessories are also included with the loan of the ShortTube 80:
- ST-80 Hard Aluminum Case
- EQ-1 Equatorial Mount
- with tray, counterweight, cables
- 26mm Plössl Eyepiece (15.4×)
- 10mm Kellner Eyepiece (40×)
- Meade 90° Diagonal
- 6×26 Finderscope
- Orion Glass Solar Filter
Orion 25×100 Binoculars on Parallelogram Mount
Spend your clear nights scanning the Milky Way for star clusters and nebulae with our Orion 25×100 GiantView Binoculars! These massive pair of binoculars
are held steady with Orion's Monster Parallelogram Mount. For those members taller than 6 feet, the mount includes an extension. Help keep moisture off of
the optics by using the supplied pair of 5-inch dew straps. You just need to supply a power source.
These accessories are also included with the loan of the 25×100 binoculars:
- Orion 25×100 GiantView Binoculars
- Orion Monster Parallelogram Mount
- Orion SkyView Pro Mount Extension
- Orion Padded Telescope Case
- Orion Spacer for 25×100 Binoculars
- Kendrick Dew Controller
- with 12-foot DC Extension Cable
- Astrozap 5-inch Dew Straps (×2)
- DC Adapter with Battery Clips
Special thanks to Becky & Kalman Csia for their generous donation of the binoculars and parallelogram mount.
Coronado Personal Solar Telescope (PST)
You're missing a lot if you've only viewed the Sun with a standard white light filter. The Coronado PST houses a special filter called an
etalon, which only transmits hydrogen alpha light. This allows you to view prominences erupting off the Sun's edge, surface granularity, and
snaking filaments, in addition to sunspots and bright, irregularly shaped plages. A clever Sun-finder window near the eyepiece provides a
safe way to aim the telescope.
These accessories are also included with loan of the Coronado PST:
- PST Hard Case
- Tele Vue Tele-Pod Head
- Tele Vue Tele-Pod Tripod
- 18mm Kellner Eyepiece
Celestron 8-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescope
This Celestron 8-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain has optics that will offer crisp, clear images, yet it is relatively light and highly portable. It
comes with Celestron's very stable Wedgpod, which can be setup in a matter of minutes, and no tools are required. This is a serious amateur
telescope that will provide dazzling views of the Moon and planets and is capable of showing you thousands of deep-sky objects.
These accessories are also included with the loan of the Celestron 8-inch SCT:
- Hard Case
- Wedgpod
- Orion FlexiShield (Dew Shield)
- Tel-Rad Finder
- Celestron 6×30 Finderscope
- Celestron Star Diagonal (#94115-A)
- Celestron Eyepieces (25, 17, & 7.5 mm)
- Colored Filter Set (×2)
- Moon Filter
- Omega Optical Narrowband Filter (1.25”)
- 8” Glass Solar Filter (#7713)
- Thousand Oaks H-alpha Filter Set
- Tele Vue Sol-Searcher (SSF-1006)
Special thanks to Becky & Kalman Csia for their generous donation of this telescope.
ZWO ASI294MC Pro Camera
KAS members have the opportunity to borrow one of the most popular imaging cameras available today. The ZWO ASI294MC Pro Cooled Color CMOS Camera has a
resolution of 10.7 Megapixels (4144 × 2822). It is an excellent deep-sky imaging camera, but it can also shoot 4K video at 24 FPS and 320 × 240 at 179.3 FPS,
making it a great planetary camera as well. All original accessories are included, plus an AC adapter for cooled deep-sky imaging. This camera sells for
$999, but you can use it for a month for free! You can download the driver and control software for free from
ZWO’s website.
For planetary imaging, we recommend downloading
FireCapture.
These accessories are also included with the loan of the ZWO ASI294MC camera:
- Hard Case
- ZWO Camera Bag
- AC Adapter
- T2 Extender (21 mm)
- T2-M48 Extender (16.5 mm)
- 1.25" Nosepiece
- T2-1.25" Adapter
- M42-M48 Adapter
- USB 3.0 Cable (2 m)
- USB 2.0 Cable (0.5m × 2)
- ZWO ASI Cooled Camera Quick Guide
Special thanks to Mike Melwiki for his generous donation of this camera.
Please
let us know if you'd like the KAS to add any other equipment to its collection.