From: "Suzy Jackson" 
To: 
Reply-To: "Suzy Jackson" 


John Sherman  wrote:

> That's a fine looking scope you've got there. Is it all finished now? Are
> you having fun looking through it? That's a good-sized scope for scanning
> through the Milky Way. The dark nebulae should pop right out at you. Are
you
> gonna start on a bigger scope now? You won't be able to get it on your
> motorcycle, but I've seen motorcycle trailers that might be able to handle
a
> mid-sized Newt.

Thanks for the kind words.  I'm not sure when you can call an amateur
telescope finished, but I'd imagine it's fairly close.  I recently got the
mirror back from aluminising (thanks very much to the nice guys at Siding
Springs), but the weather here hasn't really cooperated enough to get a
good look around.  However what I have seen has been gorgeous.  Nice well
defined stars.  The seeing around here (and the fact that I own only a 25mm
Plossl and 8mm Radian eyepiece) have prevented me from seeing airy rings to
date though.

We went down to see my old work on Christmas day, and spent a few hours
walking up mount Orroral carrying the telescope, along with other
necessities, like a nice bottle of Penfolds Bin389 that I've been saving
for the occasion.  Unfortunately by the time we got to the top of the
mountain the clouds were rolling in, and we ended up leaving early because
we didn't want to get rained on.  That little telescope is _heavy_ after
hiking with it for a few kilometers.  Oh well.  It was worth it to take a
look at the old place, and take lots of pics.

I'm not happy with the little dinky legs I put on it (truth be told I was
rushing to finish it so I could go and look at things) so at the moment I'm
making a much more substantial (and no doubt heavier) tripod to sit it on,
which will put the eyepiece at a better height.  One can only observe on
all fours for so long.

As for the next telescope, I've ground a 250mm diameter piece of Suprax to
f/4, and plan on coring it and then building an f/16 classical Cassegrain
around it, but that (and my ccd camera project -
http://www.atnf.csiro.au/people/Suzy.Jackson/ccd/ccd.html) have been put on
hold for the next few months while I get stuck into my final year
engineering thesis.  When these are finished, I might very well have to buy
a car or small van to haul them (and my bicycles) around in.

Bring on March!

Regards,

Suzy

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Suzy Jackson        suzyj{at}bigpond.com        http://www.suzyj.net

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