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A little history on my scope and
How I got started in astronomy
During
the summer of 1992 I got the bug to build my own scope,I searched through
the ads in all the
astro mags.wanting to buy one but
I,Thought if I built it my self I would appreciate it more and to this
day
I still think I was right.I wanted
a telescope ,And I was going to have it and thats all there was to it.
Then at that time I didn"t even
know how to turn a computer on to look for info on the subject alone working
one to find the info I,needed to complete the project.So I had to relate
to the old fashion method
reading books and doing the research
on them on how they worked and what to decide to build that was within
my means and in my budget.At this point I must thank Richard Berry who
is an author on the subject.And with the help of his book How
to Build your own Telescope.
It has several different scopes
that you can build yourself with basic hand tool and a little knowledge
knowing how to use them.It also
includes many mathimatical formulas for determining where componets
need to be located.I decided on
a 10" F/5 And after many hours and days waiting on parts it became a
reality.And it does serve me well.My
total cost involved after the components and the eyepieces to use with
it was about $600.00 that may sound like alote but once you got the setup
you ready for years
of use and enjoyment.They really
don"t take up much room while storing them.
The tube is constructed of cardboard
and will last forever if cared for.It has a focal lenght of 1265mm.
or about 50",The lenght of the
tube is 39.5" .The 10" Parks optical mirror sits in a Kenneth Novak
mirror cell in the bottom of the
tube.And the secondary sits in a Novak spider as well.
The Mead supper Plossl eyepieces
bring everything to focuse in a Mead 1.250 focuser.The targets
are found by pointing the telerad
finder to a known portion of the night sky then fine tuned to it"s spot
by a mead 60MM finder scope.
The night sky is a great place
to get lost in and full of ooh"s and aaw"s a simple pair of binoculars
will show you much better views
than your eyes alone can but a scope will let you see the real splender
of the stars and all the other
surroundings in the night sky.And who knows you be the one to find that
new comet of the century coming our way to grace the sky .And your name
can travel with it as it
makes its next round maybe 2000
years from now.
