Albert is finished!

[spacezebra]

Hi all

Albert is finished! :D and will be on show at Border Stargaze 2009. A huge thankyou to Peter and Kim (SDM Telescopes).

http://www.sdmtelescopes.com.au/SDM013.html

Cheers Petra d.

[h0ughy]

congrats petra - you must be chuffed that you will be Queen of the cosmos with that scope! it looks an amazing scope

[jjjnettie]

Woo hoo!
Congratulations!
He's very good looking isn't he.
Looking forward to hearing about first light.

[spacezebra]

Thanks H

I am totally chuffed!:D Even more so that I have had a hand in building it.:thumbsup:

Peter Read is the best!

Cheers Petra d.

[spacezebra]

Hi JJJ, he is very handsome! And you have someone new in your life too I hear!



Cheers Petra d.

[seeker372011]

that is a good looking scope..hope to have an opportunity to see how it performs next month at border :)
narayan

[jjjnettie]

:) Yes I do have someone new. We met on the internet during the week and hopefully will be meeting up for the first time this weekend.;)
No names as yet.
I'll have to google for something suitable. :thumbsup:

[Lumen Miner]

WoW!! I envy you. :)

[sheeny]

Congratulations Petra! I'me very envious!

Al.

[xstream]

Congratulations Petra!

I'm sure Albert is going to bring you many many hours of enjoyment, as you've certainly waited awhile for this. :)

Peter and Kim are the best! :thumbsup:

[Paul Haese]

If I ever go back to owing a large truss, the ultra light by SDM is high on my list. I will most likely make my own just for the fun of it though.

I can attest to Peter's fine work. I bought number 14 several years ago now and it was a great scope. I have since sold it onward to a chap who will love it forever and that is what a scope made by SDM deserves. Great scopes, I am sure you will enjoy yours for many years to come.

[lacad01]

Fantastic! Hope Albert can provide you with many hours of enjoyment as you explore the universe together :)

[Blue Skies]

Sweeet! :thumbsup: Now I definitely know where to go to get a large ultralite if I'm ever flush with funds!

[h0ughy]

typical you two gossip about the shining lights in your lives:whistle:

[jjjnettie]

:lol:

[Roger Davis]

Ahhh, poor, poor, poor David, what will he do now that you have a new significant other! I know, he'll build a trebuchet!!!

[Rodstar]

Great news Petra!

So, f/4.5? What's the height to the Ep at zenith?

How are you going with transporting it around? I assume it is still too heavy for one person to load and unload it??

I wonder if the Unbeliever will finally see "the light"?? (starlight that is).

Hope you have many years of joy with Albert.

[spacezebra]

Hi Roger

Yes, the trebuchet is also ready for launch!

[h0ughy]

he is not going to launch Albert is he?!!

[spacezebra]

If David launches Albert - David will be launched into space - never to return!!:rofl:

P.S H. The DVD has been posted!

Cheers Petra d.

[PCH]

Hi Petra,

congrats on the new scope - it certainly does look like a beautiful bit of gear.

Can I ask how long it takes to make one of these from scratch?

Cheers,

[Satchmo]

Congratulations Petra, its the culmination of a long term project for you. Hope you get many years of happy viewing with it. :)

[gary]

Hi Petra,

Congratulations!!! Looks beautiful! Here's to many wonderful nights ahead. :thumbsup:

Best Regards

Gary & Mai

P.S.

Thanks for choosing an Argo Navis! :thumbsup:

[astroron]

Congratulations Petra , a beautiful telescope :)
I hope you get many great night's pleasure from it:astron::stargaze:

[mental4astro]

A very impressive instrument, Petra. I too am curious to know how easy it is to handle the big boy disassembled.

Mental.

[toryglen-boy]

i just find it bizzare that someone would give a telescope a name !!


:lol:

[norm]

Congrats Petra :thumbsup: Its been a long time coming!

Looking forward to a first light report:)

Peter and Kim are certainly great people:thumbsup:

Clear Skies,

Norm

[Jen]

:eyepop: awsome Petra your gonna have some great nights with that :thumbsup:
Im sooooo jealous :lol:
Im glad i dont live in the same town as you it will proberly flood there this week :lol::lol:

[leon]

A work of art Petra, hope I get to see it one day congratulations, i'm sure you will get many happy hours out of Albert, just make him work for his keep.

Leon

[spacezebra]

Hi all

Thank you for the congrats posts. I apologise for the delay in replying.

The scope is in Shep until the end of the month - so that Peter can make some final tweekings before it travels home to Albury. I have dismantled the scope in raw state and I found it an easy task, transport and weight have been my main concerns.

Peter has been working hard to keep the weight to a minimum, particularly as a key criteria of mine has been - that the scope could be managed by one person. Mmmm - that has been a interesting point of discussion on many a Friday.:lol: and I think that it is still a point of discussion.

Time frame - Its been a work in progress - from memory the mirror was shipped to Peter early last year, and I had a hand in building the scope -hence the length of the project. I should stress that this is not the norm - and would suggest that anyone looking at one of these fantastic scopes - please contact Peter direct.

Through this project Peter has had the patience of a saint and has the engineering genius of Alexandre Gustave Eiffel! If you own an SDM you know what I mean.

I am so looking forward to my first light - a full report will be delivered very soon.

Cheers Petra d

[spacezebra]

Yeah, me too:D. But you have to admit that "Albert" is a great name.

Cheers Petra d.

[spacezebra]

Hi all

Just arrived back from 6 near perfect nights at Coona.

All congrats go to Mark Sutchting for producing such exceptional optics and Peter Reads outstanding workmanship. Albert is a pleasure to observe with!

http://users.tpg.com.au/masuch/dso/

http://www.sdmtelescopes.com.au/

This is one scope that I will never part with.

Cheers Petra d.

[jjjnettie]

I've been getting feedback from a few of the Texans, they had a ball too.
I really really wish I could have made it down.
Bet you didn't want it all to end.

[gary]

Hi Petra,

Good to hear you and David are back home safe. It is quite a haul.

Mai and I had dinner with Peter and Mark at a restaurant at Berowra on Thursday night.
I told them that whilst we were at Coona that I meant to tell you that
if I could have been given a choice of taking a telescope home with me, I would
have taken yours. :)

It is a beautiful scope to look at and to look through and one of the
best pointing telescopes I have encountered. It would be interesting to characterize
its raw pointing performance sometime using TPAS. Undoubtedly this performance
comes from the care and attention that went into constructing it.

Best Regards

Gary

[spacezebra]

Thanks Gary

My apologies for omitting the genius of the Argo Navis. I had my first real opportunity to utilise the Argo after many years of finding my way using maps and the expertise of fellow observers.

It was a pleasure to use and I found the one on one tutorial by you and Mai a huge benefit to my understanding. I hope to show others here in Albury the benefits of the Argo.

I still think that a zebra argo skin will be a brilliant addition.

Many thanks to you both for developing such a great tool - and you both have the patience of saints.


Cheers Petra d.

[gary]

Thanks Petra!

We'll have to see what we can do about a zebra stripe "skin" for you. :lol:

If it helps, we certainly can make more zebra sound imitations for you on
demand at Border Stargaze. :lol:

Best regards

Gary

[acropolite]

Could be a good cheap way to achieve Astronaut Status.

Very nice Petra, I really think you should take Albert to Astrofest this August.