Tuesday, August 09, 2005

Let the vacation photos begin!


Self-portrait with gym sock - looking down the tube of a telescope into a 20-inch mirror. First Light Optics telescope courtesy of Jim Holloway and Kevin Fox.

The sock, by the way, is protecting the secondary mirror (the small mirror at the front of the telescope.)



Here is one of the two First Light Optics telescopes at the star party - the 18 inch, I believe. I don't have any pictures that demonstrate the size of these telescopes. I'm 5'4", and I could just barely peer in the eyepiece or the front end of the telescope at this angle. If it were pointing any higher, I would need to use a step ladder.

These are beautiful, hand-built, scopes, and pretty affordable as big Dobs go. (But no, Terry, you aren't getting one for your birthday.)



Edited to add: I lied. I found a really blurry pda pic of Kevin and Jim being interviewed for local television. One of the scopes is in the background, upright, so that gives you an idea of how big it is.

3 comments:

Kathy Keller said...

These are so cool! I've always been fascinated by astronomy but not smart enough to really pursue it. What's physics? A mystery to me!

Kris said...

Amazing! but the mirror in the 1st pic looks cracked? Hope no one had to endure that bad luck.

Cheryl said...

Kris, that is part of the structure holding the mirror in place. The mirror was fine, and the telescope was fabulous.

Kathy, have you read any of my old astronomy articles at the Press? You don't have to be a scientist to enjoy astronomy.