A deep investigation of the poorly studied open cluster King 18 using CCD VRI, Gaia DR3 and 2MASS.

In this paper, we re-estimate the astrometric and photometric parameters of the young open star cluster King 18 based on Gaia Data Release 3 (DR3), Two Micron All-sky Survey (2MASS) and VRI CCD observations using the f/4.9 Newtonian focus of 74-inch telescope at Kottamia Astronomical Observatory (KAO) in Egypt. King 18 is a poorly studied open star cluster, for which new results are found in the current study.

Kottamia Faint Imaging Spectro-Polarimeter (KFISP): opto-mechanical design, software control and performance analysis.

In this paper we describe the Kottamia Faint Imaging Spectro-Polarimeter (KFISP) that has been recently developed and designed to be mounted at the Cassegrain focus of the 1.88 m telescope at Kottamia Astronomical Observatory (KAO), Egypt. The optical design of KFISP is developed such that it can be used in various modes of operation.