Techniques
CSS utilizes three telescopes, a 1.5 meter (60 inch) f/2 telescope on the peak of Mt. Lemmon, a 68 cm (27 inch) f/ 1.7 Schmidt telescope near Mt. Bigelow (both in the Tucson, AZ area) and a 0.5 meter (20 inch) f/3 Uppsala Schmidt telescope at Siding Spring Observatory in Australia. All three sites use identical, thermo-electrically cooled cameras and common software that was written by the CSS team. The cameras are cooled to approximately -100°C so their dark current is about 1 electron per hour. These 4096×4096 pixel cameras provide a field of view (FOV) of 1 degree square on with the 1.5-m telescope and nearly 9 square degrees with the Catalina Schmidt. Nominal exposures are 30 seconds and the 1.5-m can reach objects fainter than 21.5 V in that time.
CSS typically operates every clear night with the exception of a few nights centered on the full moon.
Read more about this topic: Catalina Sky Survey
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