One of my other hobbies is Astrononmy. I don't often get a bunch of scopes out at once so I figured I'd take a pic.



The big one is not mine. I'm refurbishing it for my wife's school. She's a 7th grade science teacher and bought it about seven years ago with a NASA grant.

- Peter.

__________________
2021 Chevrolet Spark
Formerly...
2000 GMC Sonoma
1981 240D 4spd stick. 347000 miles. Deceased Feb 14 2021
2002 Kia Rio. Worst crap on four wheels
1981 240D 4spd stick. 389000 miles.
1984 123 200
1979 116 280S
1972 Cadillac Sedan DeVille
1971 108 280S

Very cool. My 8 yo son received a scope as a gift a couple years ago. It's pretty much a toy but we've had done success in viewing the moon and a planet or two. Would really like to get a "real" scope and take it a little further but don't know much about the hobby.

__________________
1982 240 D, 308,000 - 321,127 miles (sold)
1982 300 TD,166,500 - 226,000 miles
1998 E 320, 120,000 - 144,000 miles
2005 C 230 K, 26,000 - 77,000 miles (sold)

Are you going to watch the asteroid flyby on Halloween night?

Google the name John Dobson. He died almost 2 years ago now, a great human, a great thinker/ponderer. My family and I have been blessed to know him and share our home and lives with him a handful of times over the last thirty years when he travelled to our area to speak, teach and wonder. He conceptualized and created the Dobsonian Mount used with Newtonian style reflector scopes. He revolutionized what the average person could witness for his or her self, some of the incredible wonders of the cosmos.

That looks like a 4 inch commercially built Dobsonian low and to the rear of that group in the picture. Dobson's fundamental design lets you build a scope maybe 4 or 5 times that size for the same money as that one probably cost I'll bet.

If you get a notion check it out many, many parent/child projects within the community. Your boy is at the perfect age to nurture an interest that will last him a lifetime. If you think about it, all the scopes and technology are great, but anybody can wander outside most any night and look up and wonder at beauty of it all.

I once heard him answer why he did what he does and he described himself as "on a momentous quest to understand how insignificant he was".

Weather permitting. I do intend to try.

- Peter.

__________________
2021 Chevrolet Spark
Formerly...
2000 GMC Sonoma
1981 240D 4spd stick. 347000 miles. Deceased Feb 14 2021
2002 Kia Rio. Worst crap on four wheels
1981 240D 4spd stick. 389000 miles.
1984 123 200
1979 116 280S
1972 Cadillac Sedan DeVille
1971 108 280S

Yes. That's an Orion 4,5 inch SkyQuest Newtonian on a Dobsonian mount. It cost about 250 bucks about 8 years ago if memory serves. They list for 279 on line now. Great quality scope for the price. But you can as you say build one yourself for probably less than that, bigger and more powerful.

Very cool that you knew Dobson. I wish I could have met him.

- Peter.

__________________
2021 Chevrolet Spark
Formerly...
2000 GMC Sonoma
1981 240D 4spd stick. 347000 miles. Deceased Feb 14 2021
2002 Kia Rio. Worst crap on four wheels
1981 240D 4spd stick. 389000 miles.
1984 123 200
1979 116 280S
1972 Cadillac Sedan DeVille
1971 108 280S

Cool! Have you tried that Schmidt Cassegrain scope yet? I've been wanting a scope for years and I have pretty much decided that's the way to go in my case.

__________________
-Evan


Benz Fleet:
1968 UNIMOG 404.114
1998 E300
2008 E63


Non-Benz Fleet:
1992 Aerostar
1993 MR2
2000 F250

I have, though only briefly after re-assembling it. It still needs some work on the collimation as the starts have a flare off to one side. I hope to do some more fine tuning this weekend and use it to track the asteroid if I can.

- Peter.

__________________
2021 Chevrolet Spark
Formerly...
2000 GMC Sonoma
1981 240D 4spd stick. 347000 miles. Deceased Feb 14 2021
2002 Kia Rio. Worst crap on four wheels
1981 240D 4spd stick. 389000 miles.
1984 123 200
1979 116 280S
1972 Cadillac Sedan DeVille
1971 108 280S