May 8th, 2010: "We have had the 16" f3.75 Dream Astrograph running asteroid patrol now for 7 nights using a 4K X 4K X 9u with the 4" corrector. Our software finds between a dozen and two dozen new asteroids per night as well as many, many known objects (meaning previously discovered but "lost" objects).

The telescope has also proven itself in the specialized area of asteroid recovery. A lot of the near Earth asteroids are dim and are not tracked very much after discovery. Computations give us a probability distribution telling us where to look to recover such asteroids when they swing by the Earth again. We use to take many exposures with the 0.81-m Ritchey (with a 15' X 15' FOV) for this, but the immense field of view (2.25 sq. degrees) allow us to recapture these with a single exposure on the 16" Dream Astrograph. This frees up a lot of time on the Ritchey for other projects.

Those that are looking into a Dream Astrograph for this kind of work are barking up the right tree."