Well I've come to the inevitable conclusion...MORE!
I've currently got a Skywatcher Black Diamond 8" f/5 newt on an EQ6 and I have aperture envy. I was toying with the idea of building a 10" f/4 with GSO mirrors, but then (predictably) I noticed that the 12" f/5 mirrors are almost the same price. My first thought was
"M42 barely fits in my 1000mm scope, am I going to be limited to smaller DSOs with 1500mm?". Obviously the term 'limited' is relative, I'm sure there's no shortage of joy to be had with 1500mm. Then an evil thought occurred to me... 12" f/4? Best of both worlds?
I want to build something permanent, something I won't have to upgrade any time soon and I don't mind spending a few months perfecting the design before I go nuts on the credit card.
What are the essentials? Ive been looking at the commercial scopes and using them as a catalogue to get ideas, Astrograph by numbers if you will.
I'm an Aircraft Structural Maintenance Engineer so precision fabrication and attention to detail come as standard
Any experience, suggestions, advice and warnings are gratefully accepted.
