Primordial Light: TECHNIQUE

Primordial Light: TECHNIQUE
It's not just about the toys, but the pleasure of using beautifully made precision instruments is part and parcel of the experience for most amateur astronomers. Amateurs frequently call their toys “instruments” just as the pros do in a vain attempt to make the uninitiated think that they don’t regard them as toys.


Mechanical Work—How-to:

The large orange telescope is a Takahashi “Tak” Epsilon 180ED that I acquired in August, 2007. The small telescope is my first telescope, a 1982 Questar Duplex. The Epsilon has a focal length of 500mm and a focal ratio of 2.8. It is called a fast astrograph: fast, because it's focal ratio of 2.8 is relatively fast, and astrograph because it is intended primarily for astrophotography and is not well suited to visual observing. The two telescopes are mounted on a Losmandy G11 German Equatorial Mount with a Gemini controller. It may appear that the Questar is attached to the Epsilon, but it is not; it is attached to a Losmandy three-axis camera mount that is attached to its own Losmandy dovetail plate. Attached to the focuser at the bottom front of the Takahashi is my SBIG STL-11000M astronomical CCD camera. The SBIG external guide camera is mounted on the Questar’s axial port. There are other photos of the Questar at work here.

Full Load! Pass your cursor over the image for equipment identification. The Losmandy mount, which has a rated capacity of 27kg, is carrying 31kg as configured above.


Mechanical Work:
• Removing a Meade OTA from its fork mount.
• Modifying the drawtube on a small refractor to support a heavy camera.