How Telescopes Are Made

Hal --- Just curious how many scopes you've owned. My first was a 3" newt I made from scratch, including grinding and polishing the mirror, back in the early 70's. It was crude, but worked.

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A few years ago, I bought a short 80mm Orion refractor on Craig's list and built a stand for it.

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I had so much fun with that, that I bought a 5" collapsible dob, and made a roll-around base so I could sit down and observe.

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Then I got aperture envy and bought my 8" dob. I traded the 80mm refractor for an old 4.5" f10 newt and gave the 5" to one of my sons. I built a dob base for the 4.5".

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I think that's going to do it for me. The 8" is as big as I can handle, and my light pollution doesn't justify anything larger. I enjoy using both of them.

Don
 
No, Hal, no list needed. I just noticed you have posted photos of several, and I thought there might be an interesting story or two behind it. Maybe you just enjoy collecting them. They are neat.

Don
 
Bummer!
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Here's the one I have, although it's hard to get clear nights. We are now that Winter is coming on, but also, with all the fires last Summer, then, followed by some weeks on end with haze;) I have a lot to learn about them, and really appreciate your post Seabreeze, very interesting;)

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Louise Glück’s “Telescope”

There is a moment after you move your eye away
when you forget where you are
because you’ve been living, it seems,
somewhere else, in the silence of the night sky.

You’ve stopped being here in the world.
You’re in a different place,
a place where human life has no meaning.

You’re not a creature in a body.
You exist as the stars exist,
participating in their stillness, their immensity.

Then you’re in the world again.
At night, on a cold hill,
taking the telescope apart.

You realize afterward
not that the image is false
but the relation is false.

You see again how far away
each thing is from every other thing.
 
What a good read Meanderer, I look up at the stars sometimes (without my scope) and truly in awe. I wish I'd have vivid dreams about flying through the galaxy. If I ever get another scope, I am hoping for one with a camera. I forget what they are called. I love the things I can see right online, love the internet highway. I get to see things I never would "in person" so to speak;)

 
Hey Grampa Don.

I started with a 3" Edmund reflector.

Then I quickly graduated to an 8" home-made Equatorial Newtonian, and not long after, I got a custom-built 20" Dobsonian Reflector. I had over $7000 in that scope before I sold it!

I wanted a big aperture so I could observe deep-space constellations, nebulas, and galaxies, which that 20" mirror delivered in spades!

After getting my fill of Astronomy, I began to sell off my scopes, then I quit my Astronomy Club, the High Desert Astronomical Society, and now I have a modest 10" Orion Dob, which I'll sell cheap.

Hal
 

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Meanderer - Very nice. It is almost a Zen experience, sitting in the dark and staring at a cluster of tiny stars or a fuzzy galaxy and thinking of nothing but how immense and far away they are, or scanning the weird geological features on the face of the moon. Sure, you can get a better image easily with Google. But, it's not the same as seeing the real thing. The photons hitting your eye are a direct link to the universe. The pleasure of observing is as much in the imagination as it is in the eyes.

Don
 
Denise1952 said:
What a good read Meanderer, I look up at the stars sometimes (without my scope) and truly in awe. I wish I'd have vivid dreams about flying through the galaxy. If I ever get another scope, I am hoping for one with a camera. I forget what they are called. I love the things I can see right online, love the internet highway. I get to see things I never would "in person" so to speak;)
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Denise - I'd like to invite you to join the Astronomyforum.net. It's a very beginner friendly forum. You mentioned astro photography. It's easy to take a shot of the moon by just holding your camera up to the eyepiece. But, deep space photos require some pretty expensive equipment. Multiple exposures are made and combined with special software to bring out details. I hope you get some clear skies soon.

Don
 
Hal -- You've sure had a variety of equipment. I wonder what caused you to burn out. Is the sky getting too bright out there on the high dessert? I know that area is really getting built up. Maybe you should hang on to that Orion for a while.

Don
 
Lara said:
Wow SeaBreeze, you sure know how to attract all the gentlemen...*taking notes*:eek:k:.
But seriously, who knew our members had such impressive hobbies. Very interesting thread.
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Lol Lara, you don't need to take notes on attracting the gentlemen sweet lady! :)

I agree, our members do have very impressive hobbies, I'm amazed at some of the interests of our members here....yes, very interesting for sure!
 
Hal, Don and Denise....very cool telescopes, impressive! :cool: I don't own a telescope, but I love watching the night skies on a clear night when out in remote wooded areas away from all artificial lighting. The beauty of the heavens is truly a natural wonder, peaceful feeling to be sure.
 
Thanks for the link to the video, SeaBreeze. It was very interesting. I watch How It's Made once in a while, but hadn't seen that one.

If you have a pair of binoculars, take them with you. If you have a smart phone or tablet, there is software that will guide you to some neat stuff. The Pleiades, the Orion nebula, Coma Berenices, The Andromeda galaxy, and even the planet Uranus are visible with binoculars. Scan the constellation Cassiopeia. It's loaded with stars.

Don
 
Grampa Don said:
Thanks for the link to the video, SeaBreeze. It was very interesting. I watch How It's Made once in a while, but hadn't seen that one.

If you have a pair of binoculars, take them with you. If you have a smart phone or tablet, there is software that will guide you to some neat stuff. The Pleiades, the Orion nebula, Coma Berenices, The Andromeda galaxy, and even the planet Uranus are visible with binoculars. Scan the constellation Cassiopeia. It's loaded with stars.

Don
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You're welcome Don. We always have binoculars with us, a small pair that fits in the pocket, so I do use them at times to view the stars. No smart phone or tablets, where we go there's usually little or poor radio reception and no cell phone service.
 
Yo, Grampa Don,

I'll take your advice and keep my 10" Orion Dob. One should have at least one serious telescope available!

I have a pair of Celestron 9x63 Astro Binoculars which give fine, bright views of the planets and the Great Orion Nebula, M-42. The Pleiades are easily seen with the naked eye in my back yard on moonless nights.

Our High Desert environment is still largely free of light pollution, mainly because commercial lighting codes require outdoor fixtures to be equipped with downward-reflecting baffles to avoid upward light spill as from unbaffled fixtures.

That's all...
Hal
 

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