Introducing Karee - our new strut ultralight telescope.
An Australian Aboriginal word for 'Sun',
Karee is the latest addition to the Gondwana Telescopes stable of ultralight dobsonians.
Based around the design of my own 17.5" strut ultralight, it has proven itself over the last four years to be rigid, reliable, versatile, and capable of dealing with the rigors of long distance travel.
Karee is offered for apertures over 16" and up to 20". It's parallel strut design allows for multiple finder scopes to be placed on the secondary cage and coupled to the rear strut, or even for a smart phone, tablet or other wifi system to be mounted onto the strut. This not only eliminates the need for a stand alone stalk, but with the finder set on the secondary cage makes for a built in counterweight solution. When an eyepiece of excessive weight is used, the finderscope on the sec. cage is removed, there by re-establishing balance of the instrument, but the aiming of the instrument is still possible due to the second lot of finderscopes or the wifi system mounted onto the strut.
Karee is capable of incorporating servo motors to create a complete go-to solution. As with its little brother,
Marana, encoder couplings come standard to provide as easy a transition to plug'n'play with a system such as Argo Navis.
Its highly collapsible design makes for a very compact stowed configuration, and a configuration that allows for the telescope to be fit into a car in its various smaller components, not as large units. The stowed telescope comfortably fits into the rear compartment of most SVU's, and still allows for ample gear to be packed around it. While we all look after our precious equipment, having a telescope that can deal with the rigours of long distance car travel removes much of the worry of an instrument that is overly fragile.
Karee's secondary cage can be made in one of two configurations: 1, as a single sheet of plywood as seen in the photos, or 2, as a more orthodox enclosed secondary cage. All to give the customer the most flexibility in their personal requirements.
Both
Karee and
Marana will be on show at the Queensland Astrofest this coming July. Here in NSW, both Karee and Marana feature regularly at the gatherings at Katoomba Airfield.
There are currently two Karee's in production for two customers - one 16" and a 20". Pictures of these two projects will be posted on the
Gondwana Telescopes website and here as they develop.
Gondwana Telescopes - a new choice in dobsonian telescopes.