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.

ZWO Seestar S50 Smart Telescope

The Seestar S50 combines a 50mm triplet apochromatic refracting telescope, 2.1 megapixel camera (1920×1080 pixels), tracking mount, focuser, astronomy filters, and a tripod into a single device. It connects to your smartphone or tablet (an iPad is included), allowing you to take pictures of nebulae, galaxies, and star clusters, plus the Sun (with an included solar filter) and Moon with only a few taps! You can quickly set it up in just minutes thanks to its intuitive app. The Seestar S50 is ideal for anyone interested in Electronically Assisted Astronomy (EAA) or introductory astrophotography. Click here to download the Seestar manual.

These accessories are included with the loan of the Seestar S50:

• Foam Case
• Apple iPad
• Celestron Tripod w/ Leveling Base
• Carbon Fiber Mini Tripod
• Solar Filter
• BuckeyeStargazer Dew Shield
• USB-A to USB-C Cable
• USB Extension Cable
• ¼” to ⅜” Tripod Thread Adapter (×9)

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! Orion's Monster Parallelogram Mount steadies this massive pair of binoculars. 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 included with the loan of the 25×100 binoculars:

• Orion 25×100 GiantView Binoculars
• with Aluminum Hard Case
• Orion Monster Parallelogram Mount
• with Aluminum Tripod
• 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 MaxScope 60

You're missing a lot if you've only viewed the Sun with a standard white-light solar filter. The Coronado MaxScope 60 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 sunfinder provides a safe way to aim the telescope. You can borrow this telescope with either the TeleVue Tele-Pod or the Orion Atlas German Equatorial mount. The Tele-Pod permits a quick way to check on solar activity, while the Atlas can track the Sun for prolonged visual study or for solar imaging.

These accessories are included with loan of the Coronado MaxScope 60:

• Hard Case
• Coronado CEMAX 25mm Eyepiece
• Coronado CEMAX 2× Barlow Lens
• TeleVue Tele-Pod Head
• TeleVue Tele-Pod Tripod
• Orion Atlas GEM & Tripod
• Orion Altas Counterweight & Shaft

The late Roger Williams' wife Molly generously donated this telescope in his memory.

Stellarvue 4-inch Triplet Apochromatic Refractor

This Stellarvue refractor is one fine telescope. It features a 4-inch (102mm) f/7 (714mm focal length) air-spaced apochromatic triplet refracting lens using FPL-53 glass and has a STREHL ratio of 0.961. Carbon fiber composes the optical tube, which houses a 3" Starlight Instruments Feather Touch focuser, regarded as one of the world's finest. This telescope will excel at all types of visual observing or astrophotography. We mount it on Celestron's popular Advanced VX, their most compact and portable German equatorial mount. It has a maximum instrument capacity of 30 lbs and full Go-To capability. Additionally, the mount features Periodic Error Correction (PEC) and autoguiding capabilities, making it the only equipment in our collection suitable for astrophotography.

These accessories are included with the loan of the Stellarvue refractor:

• Stellarvue Soft Case
• Celestron AVX German Equatorial Mount
• with Apertura Soft Case
• Celestron Tripod
• with Apertura Universal Tripod Case
• Rings (×2) w/ Vixen-Style Adapter
• NexStar Keypad
• with Holder & Tripod Clamp
• 12 lb. Counterweight
• with Counterweight Shaft
• Astro-Tech 2” Diagonal
• Celestron 23mm Luminos Eyepiece (2”)
• TeleVue 12mm Nagler Type 4 Eyepiece
• 9×50 Finderscope with Illuminator
• Kendrick 117mm-130mm Solar Filter
• AC Adapter & DC Cord
• 12 Volt, 35Ah Battery with DC Port

The late Roger Williams' wife Molly generously donated this telescope in his memory.

Sky-Watcher Flextube 200P Collapsible Dobsonian

The Dobsonian mount has made Newtoninan reflectors the most widely used type of amateur telescope for decades now. Indeed, when asked what the best beginner telescope is, the most common reply is either a 6-inch or 8-inch Dobsonian. Not only does their medium-size aperture offer the most "back for your buck," but it is also highly portable and easy to set up and take down. We are pleased to offer Sky-Watcher's highly-popular Flextube 200P Collapsible Dobsonian for loan. This clever design gives users the ability to collapse the optical tube using a proprietary truss-tube system while retaining its collimation. This makes it easier to transport, either in one or two pieces, and takes up less space when not in use.

These accessories are included with the loan of the Sky-Watcher 8-inch Dobsonian:

• Dobsonian Telescope Cover
• Sky-Watcher 8×50 Finderscope
• Tel-Rad Finder
• Antares Accessory Hard Case
• Meade QX Wide Angle 36mm Eyepiece
• 25mm Super Plössl Eyepiece
• 10mm Super Plössl Eyepiece
• Laser Collimator (1.25”)
• 1.25” Eyepiece Adapter
• Sky-Spot Tel-Rad Finder Charts (×3)

Celestron 8-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescope

This Celestron 8-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain boasts optics that provide crisp, clear images, while remaining relatively light and highly portable. Celestron's very stable Wedgpod comes with it, requiring no tools for setup in just a few minutes. 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 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 fantastic planetary camera as well. The package includes all original accessories and 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 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.