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A birds eye view of the observatory looking West. On the full sized view (click on thumbnail) you can detect our hazy marine layer. I have good viewing down to -22 degrees declination although the seeing that low is never acceptable. |
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I am standing on a stepladder looking out towards the South My gray hair confirms that I have read Sky and Telescope for over 55 years. The observatory is on a deck built on 4' deep cement piers. This is a view from the back deck of our house. |
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Looking through our deer fence shows the hilly nature of our 3.25 acre home site. The Mathis mount rests on a 12" reinforced concrete column about 6 feet in the ground with a 4' by 4' base. I planted many oleanders to help break up air currents and provide a pleasing view for the neighbors |
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The 228-mm refractor on the Mathis 500 mount. Designed by Thomas Back and made by APM Telescopes, the F/9 triplet has an 0.96 Strehl ratio with a 1/8th wave front. Its images are awesome; "I should have gotten it 20 years sooner." |
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Looking down the big 228-mm telescope at the triplet lens and its TMB 115 guide, finder and imaging scope. The TMB 115 is excellent for guiding with the STL 11000 separate guide chip. The TMB 115 is a superb telescope and is fine for wide field imaging and will easily tolerate 400X magnification on planets. |
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The eyepiece end of both telescopes with the STL11000 mounted and the guide chip attached to the TMB 115. Weights are magnetically attached to the telescope making precise balance easily and quickly achieved by adding, removing and sliding the weights along the tube. By recording precise locations of the weights including the counterweights for RA, changing from one configuration to another can be accomplished very easily and quickly. |
