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| This is the proverbial new dream telescope I've chosen to span the Heavens like the world's biggest Dobsonian-mounted beast, at the crux of eternity of exploration in the Universe. (or one like it). The largest telescope in the zone is the choice and the order for it is going in soon! |
I'm literally perched up here thousands of feet in the air, atop one of the tallest regional skyscrapers with one of the largest modern decks now converted into an astronomical observatory with multiple telescopes. The view is very good, facing East, Southeast, and South, with the march of rising planets in full oppositional view -Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, Venus, Mercury etc. Spun off of weather from the Pacific Ocean, the stars are so stable they don't twinkle. Now this is the place for born astronomers and we must take advantage of these conditions as this is undoubtedly the only chance we'll get in life to make the best of it.
But what about it? Aperture fever now dictates a telescope far larger than 14-inches is needed. This has remained a several year analysis of all the telescope Dobs out there, and this year the conclusion was reached. The big Dob telescope zone is 18-inch, 20-inch and 24-inch. These more or less affordable UL type open serrurier truss scopes are lightweight, easy to handle, relatively easy to modify and improve, portable, and come in fast ratio sizes of f/3.2 on up. This means no tall ladder needed for observing. It also means no drive is needed with the advent of one second DSO Lucky Imaging. Additionally with image processing and light pollution filters the massive Dob can perform far better than ever before in a heavy light polluted environment. Amping a telescope like this one is all new territory. Imagine a new telescope giving the appearance of 2,400 inches in diameter or 61-meters with a focal length of 77 inches. Telescopes like these take time after the order is placed. We will see exactly how long. Stay tuned for updates.
