General (recent) technical history of astro equipment?

[Andrew C]

As a person interested in amateur astronomy for some years and trying to follow some of the more esoteric threads that compare different techniques and kinds of equipment, I am often left feeling a little inadequate.

It would be very interesting for me and perhaps others if there were something like an Ice in Space reference or wiki that authoritatively presented and compared in one place the different technologies for telescopes, eyepieces, mounts, cameras, sensors, filters, software techniques and the like. I am thinking of this not so much between different manufacturers (as that is often contentious and subjective), but at the general technology level as it has developed over the past couple of decades, and as hitherto professional or high end hardware has become more accessible to us general amateurs with reducing prices and advanced design and manufacturing.

These things are covered superficially in text books, and in minute detail at a thread level between people who are right at the forefront with the latest at any given moment, but I am sure the collective and distilled knowledge and wisdom of the Ice in Space community could produce something really helpful along these lines.

Has this thought come up before?

Cheers,

Andrew

[MrB (Simon)]

I like where you're coming from....
Astropedia, but as you say... no brands, just individual pages for say Kellner, Plossl, Adaptive optics, Mono CCD cam, OSC CCD Cam, DSLR astrophotography, Flatteners, Tele-extenders, reducers etc etc etc..... I like.
What they are, how they're used, how they're NOT used... tips, tricks, etc etc

We certainly have the knowledge around here, myself excluded!

Only problem is... seems to be a lot of people(seems global, not just around here) that dislike wiki.

[DavidU (Dave)]

I like the idea. Ion mirror milling, adaptive optics, modern cooled CCD's.
Ethos EP's. Let alone Goto mounts.

[Blue Skies (Jacquie)]

Yeah, good idea, I wouldn't mind the same thing with a history video astronomy at the moment. Its all galloping by so fast that you hardly have time to catch you breath with it sometimes.

[seeker372011 (Narayan)]

good idea but while you are waiting for this wiki to evolve, Starware by Phil Harrington has a fair bit of information-course it can all become outdated rather quickly , so it wont be as good as the wki idea

[Andrew C]

Thanks all for your replies so far.

Mr B - I'm not suggesting an external wiki, and more than happy for better suggestions on a suitable mechanism for doing it - I reckon one of our moderators would be able to suggest a good way to do it within the IIS website.

But requirements first, solutions later - first thing is to gauge the level of
interest.

More discussion welcome!

[MrB (Simon)]

Sorry, I didn't think you meant off-site, I did assume you meant it would be part of this site.

Infact, I'm a regular at another forum(AussieHomeBrewer.com) that has exactly what you propose.