Austin Dam Astronomers

Friday June 18th, 2004

Ok.....so maybe I could have been wrong about it being cloudy, rainy and miserable for rest of our bloody lives....

We had clear skies for the first time in a month at Mansfield Dam in Austin, Texas. I had almost forgotten which end of the telescope to look into!

Jay, Michele and Forrest were there with their 20" BAD-MAMA-JAMA Dobsonian. M13, M5 and M104 never looked so bright in any scope I've ever had the privilege of viewing through.

Ralph showed up with his C11/G11 as did Dave with his CGE-11. Charlie was an unbeliever (I hope I didn't discourage him with my "rainy and miserable for the rest of our bloody lives" comment.) and showed up armed only with a pair of binoculars.

Richard and JB from Austin Astronomy and Science were there to lend a helping hand to the general public who dropped by for a visit.

Todd celebrated first-light with his home-built 12" Dob. This scope, which we will call "Woody", has some very interesting features which you don't see on many Dobsonians. One of the strangest focusers you've ever seen tops the Wooden OTA. This item is manufactured by ClementFocuser. You can find more info on this focuser at www.clementfocuser.com.

*Notice the clear sky behind Todd and Charlie. Oh yeah...we knew we'd get some views that night.

 

This focuser reminds me of the bellows on a large studio camera. On the right is a progression of photos showing the bellows in action. You'll notice there is a laser collimator instead of an eyepiece. A focuser this large would be overkill for anything smaller than a 12" aperture. It seemed massive even for this large scope. ----->

 

Looking down the tube on the right kinda makes you feel like yoddling. Theres a great echo that comes back at you.

Another great feature is the curved spider vane. No more spikes! This is VERY cool when you're viewing bright objects such as Saturn. I can't wait to see what kind of photos this scope is going to take. Oh, did I not mention that Todd has this tube rigged so that he can take it off of the Dobsonian base and mount it directly onto his Titan mount (that is...when it arrives)? (See the photo below.)

He's got Losmandy mounting plates on either side of the rings. Last night, he and Ralph picked the tube up and set it rignt on top of Ralph's Losmandy G11. What a sight that made!! Made you feel like you were standing next to a Patriot missile battery. But it was dark at that point and I didn't want to ruin anyone's party with my flash. Altogether a fantastic rig! Congratulations Todd!