Back on Track! (Hopefully)

Hey, Gang!

I spoke with Den at Dobstuff.com recently, and he told me the move to Palm Desert went well, and he's all settled in. This means he will be restarting his production line next month, with possible delivery date on the structural kit by Christmas!

Now, I just have to raise the last few dollars I need to fund this shindig...

Being, so close, I would appreciate any help you guys can throw my way to get this project completed. I'll be stumping for donations from more local businesses, but let's keep our fingers crossed.

Also, I spoke with a 5th grade teacher at Penn Manor this week, and a 7th grade teacher from Dayspring, so it looks like we're also getting the event opportunities all lined up.

If you're interested in helping out with the kids and the events, contact me to get started with the appropriate paperwork and background checks for going into local schools as an educational volunteer.

One last thing to whet your telescope appetites:

Coming soon: Our 18" Kit Type from Dobstuff.com

Houston, the Mirror has Landed!

Good news, everyone! The mirror has arrived from OMI, and boy does it look awesome!

Now, I can concentrate on the main structure of the scope!

More updates soon!

Setbacks and Waiting

The telescope maker moved to Arizona, as I previously mentioned, but he also unexpectedly dumped his entire production line until November. Obviously, this is disappointing, but he assured me he is still in the business and will start back up in the fall. Here's hoping.

Otherwise, I have the primary mirror support and Crayford Focuser in hand, and OMI will deliver the primary mirror in two weeks. As far as monetary investment goes, 3/4ths of the scope is paid for, so things are cool enough for now.

There really isn't much more to report for now.

Slow Progress

Well, it seems the past month has brought slow progress on the scope. The structural kit maker made a move from California to Arizona, which bumped back the completion date to June, and then I had several weeks of out of town business before I myself decided to move into a new apartment, which means little work has been done since March. But, it all worked out well, because I was burning the candle at too many ends. Thankfully, the primary still hasn't arrived yet, meaning there is plenty of time for everything to come together. Otherwise, everything else is complete. I anticipate kit arrival in July and completion by August 1st. A word of warning though; my wife is expecting our first child August 7th, so we're under a deadline! Anyway, things are progressing and all is well. More to come...

18" Mirror Cell Completed

I finished the primary mirror cell this morning, and it looks great!

Here's the pics:

 

Imaging Problems

Okay, so I've been having problems with my junky Sony Cyber-Shot. Obviously, it was never designed for this sort of work, but I can't get it to focus. The views look great in the 4.25" Quattro eyepiece, and just for kicks, I re-collimated everything again last night before observing, but it just won't behave.

This regular 20-second shot of the northern sky shows you how much noise there is on the camera (that's not really light pollution):

This is the clearest image I could get of the moon:

Here is the clearest closeup I could get of Mare Crisium and the Proclus Crater:

To say that I'm not happy with my imaging options at the moment is an understatement, particularly when the scope itself is working so well. I guess I was just spoiled working at the University of Arizona Steward Observatory in college with all the good equipment there.

I am hoping to get things resolved before the 18" is completed in May, but for now, eyeball astronomy is quite rewarding enough. I just wanted to share some of those images online.

The idea for the 18" is to put together a DSLR and CCD gallery online for students to use in conjunctions with their science, astronomy, and physics classes. I hope I can get some sponsors on board to help with that.

Meanwhile, I'm back to tapping holes for the 18" primary mirror mount.

Houston, We Have a Finder Scope!

Good news! I got an e-mail from Stellarvue, and they are donating an F2 Multi-reticle Finder to us!

This is a great boon for us, since the Dobtracker idea didn't work out so well. I'm still working on a source for a track and point system for Deep Sky Observing.

But here's a picture and link for you to check it out yourself:

http://www.stellarvue.com/f2.html

Thanks, Vic and crew!