Hi New to this.

Hi I am New to this Forum.
My first Look through a telescope was when I attended an open day with my Brothers at a young age in Dunsink and had the opportunity to look through the big telescope, It looked amazing with lots of brass and a slowly spinning steam engine type Governor and clockwork mechanism.

I got the opportunity to look through this telescope at Dunsink and was amazed at the image and the colours. I have never forgotten that image since.


I Bought an E.T.X 70 last year for my son have seen Saturn and the last Lunar eclipse (which was amazing from the Pheonix park. Did not have the ability to photograph the eclipse images which I deeply regret).

Have just purchased a 12.5 " f5 mirror and hope to build a Dob.
Would like an Equatorial mount for this . bit confused about best mount design. Will it fall over or will I.

Regards. Paul.

hold the line....I am a novice myself. I believe that building a reflector is a tricky business, but there ar many out there who have or can give you advice. a 12.5" scope is a beast of a yoke to build. a Dobson is far easier to operate ( as it sits in a fairly simple mount - which suits me)

I think a 12.5" reflector on an equatorial - would have to be quite sturdy

anyway best of luck with the project

Declan

Hi Paul,
welcome to our little astronomy community...

So you hope to build a 12.5" Dob? That'll be cool. I have built 2 Newtonian 8" Equatorial's myself over the years. It can be daunting, but a rewarding project all the same. I actually think it is easy to build a simple Dob. If it is just for viewing, then there's not much to worry about. Just the time, some money, and probably a lot of patience!

Have you got any books on building a scope yet? There are many out there. One I can't recommend enough for your level of telescope expertise is "Handbook for Telescope Making" by Neale E. Howard. It is an old book, but goes through everything (and I mean everything) about how to build your chosen telescope. The prnciples of telescope making has always been the same, if only some materials have become a little more advanced in the 30 years since it was last published.

Worth looking up.

Seanie.

Thanks lads for the Welcome and the info. i have ordered that book . Have read any available online info on building Dobs and will probably stick to the traditional mount.

Regards Paul.

A Dob will certainly be *much* more portable than an equatoial. If you want it to track the sky then you can always add motors (Tech2000.com) or similar to it... or build yourself an Equatorial Platform (using an old stepper motor from a disk drive or printer.) Google for lots of designs and "How-To's."

Phil.