Hi
I think the scope is one of the ones that the Japanese guy donated to the Downer club which may include Strongman Mikes 6" Apo .
I may be wrong though I'm sure one of the guys in the club would know , I may be thinking of another scope and it may have been cooked in the fires
.
Zane
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by stringscope
Hi Zane,
Yes, I am looking forward to having a look through it to see what it is like.
WRT the mount, Peter B was uncertain as to the location/status of the mount. On the basis it aparently was NBG, I haven't followed up on this matter.
I am in two minds about this scope. In its current configuration it has a heavy closed mirror cell in a very heavy 200mm steel tube, a magnificent (and very heavy) Tak R&P focuser with a clear apature of about 2.7" and a focal plane positioned about 150mm outside the tube with a resultant large secondary mirror. It also has a lovely Tak 6X30 finderscope (sharp right to the edge!!). I suspect it has the thermal mass of a typical 12" scope!
This scope is clearly designed as an excellent astro photography platform and is beautifuly balanced in the centre of the tube for GEM mounting.
I am putting it in a dob mount for the moment just to get it operational and star test it. CAS can at least then use it as a hire scope. I suspect it will suffer from tube currents due to the closed mirror cell. I also suspect that an "all nighter" during a Canberra winter may well result in primary mirror fogging due to the steel tube "super cooling" and the resultant cold air pooling around the primary mirror.
Where to from here? The options I see are:
1. Leave it as is for general visual use on a dob mount.
2. Acquire a suitable GEM and CCD. It could them be a hire scope for members wishing to investigate astro imaging. (It's F6.25 BTW).
3. Assuming the mirror is as good as you are likely to get, keep the primary mirror only, around which build a custom dob mount, tube and well ventilated cell for high quality visual only work. The rest of the scope could go into storage for parts.
BTW Zane, do you know the history of this scope?
Cheers,
|