|
Thanks Jay.
My intensions with this rig are threefold. One part of this project is to show how truely accessible astronomy can be, another how you don't need elaborate, sophisticated gear to get going, and the third what is actully in the sky that an eyepiece just can't show our human eyes. Nothing I'm using is expensive. And all the components just required a little bit of tinkering to have them all work together. Some components were ultimately destined for the scrap heap, instead they've been given a new lease on life.
My thing isn't astrophotography . Honestly, I don't care for it. This rig is intended to be used as a tool at urban star parties. It is intended to show kids that to get into astronomy it doesn't require mega bucks to get results. The gear here is all either inexpensive, superceeded or handmade. To make the setup from gear that is ridiculously expensive, sophisticated, and with absurdly "perfect" optics is counter productive to my intensions with it. There's nothing wrong with the fork mount I'm using, other than some people would turn their nose up at it. That's fine as they would never see the purpose of the rig. Good luck to them I say. But for a kid, who relies on mum and dad to finance this hobby, this rig show how they can get started and cut their teeth.
The third part of this rig is the most subtle. When set up, I will have another scope set up beside it into which folks can see what the object actually looks like through an eyepiece. There is no way a novice can actually learn averted vision in a 1min squizz with 30 others behind them. They certainly have no way of seeing a galaxy under urban skies either. Video can, and together with a visual instrument people can better understand the way astronomers do their work. And show how amateur astonomers are making a real contribution to the pool of knowledge through occultation chasing, variable star spectrometry, supernova finding, planetary imaging - all of which doesn't require the most ultra star-test-perfect gear around. And it can all be fun and not ultra competitive.
|