My astro stuff was getting a bit disorganized, so I thought I'd clean it up a bit. This page is in red, of course, to preserve your night vision. Here's some sub-topics:
* Beginner's Scope Guide - Click here for Dave's Opinion on what you should get if you're just starting out.
* Click here for a long rambling description + pics of my homemade 10" f/6 dobsonian. No, it's not all that, but I worked on it for so long I have to be proud. It's kind of like a kid.
* I'm just finished building a 4.25" RFT for well under $100! And, plans are here. This is my new recommendation for a first scope, and it's been fun to try to minimize cost. The non-optical part of the OTA is under $15, including tube, mirror cell, focuser, spider, secondary holder. There's also one shot of my first sled focuser. If I do a sled again, it's going to be single-rail.
I finally got a commercial scope
- this is me doing some Winter observing with my new Nexstar 11.
It's a bit of a bear to set up, but once you do, you just sit
back and take the tour. I think it is 'cheating' a bit if this
is your first scope - but I've paid my dues, so it's OK 8)
There's a common saying regarding goto scopes vs dobs that I can vouch for: With a dob, you spens 80% of your viewing time looking for stuff - with a goto scope, you spend 80% of your time looking at stuff. No dis on dobs at all - it is very cool to hunt down and find faint stuff. But the change is nice.
One of my first times out with the N11, I had a list of 12-15 things I wanted to track down that night, just like I usually did with the dob. I usually observe for about 3 hours before calling it a night. Well, I was all done with my list in about 40 minutes! Which was OK - I grabbed my star atlas and picked out some other things in the area.
Now - why should you observe in the first place? It's certainly true that you can download better pictures than I'll ever be able to see with any of my scopes. I think that at some level, you have to be caught up in the romance of it - the romance of light from the Sun bouncing off of (say) Neptune, bouncing off of a mirror or two, and being gathered into your eye. It increases my personal connection with the rest of the universe. Plus, chicks dig it!
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* To hear me pontificate extemporaneously on a number of equipment topics (eyepieces, mirrors, etc), click here. I just added a good (I think) mirror-cleaning technique as well.
* My top 10 most wanted viewing objects.
Hey, I got my pics back from shooting Hale-Bopp! Here's the best shot:
Cya at the next star party!