I have to admit that my “astronomy journey” hasn’t been as bad as the linked drawing indicates. Basically, my interest in astronomy started in high school and after afew years it stopped. Things like college, getting married, having kids, a job….. slowed my hobby down. Way down. I didn’t renew my interest until about 30 years later – when I restarted my visual astronomy. However, I didn’t try astrophotography until late 2016.
My first telescope was a 6 inch Criterion Dynascope. In recent years I rarely used it, so I took the mirror from that scope and turned it into a fast f/4.0; see below. I’ve always loved to build things with my own hands so back when Willman-Bell still carried a large selection of mirror making kits, I ordered a 12.5 inch kit (now Willmann-Bell is part of Sky Publishing and as far as I know, they are only a publishing company now). The nice thing about those kits was that they came with 2 blanks (both full-thickness). One was supposed to be used as the mirror and the other as the tool. I wanted to keep the other blank for a future mirror so instead of using it as a tool I ordered a 12.5 in plate-glass tool from Newport Glass. Anyway, I ended up with a reasonable 12.5 inch f/6 DOB. I used a Sonotube for the tube and painted it white. The first star party that I ever attended was the Northwoods Starfest in Wisconsin. I can’t remember the year but John Dobson was the main speaker. Right around dusk he walked around looking at the various telescopes. He came to mine (there was a group of people following him) and he said to the group “This is a relatively humid evening so feel this tube”. They did, as did I, and it was wet. He talked about dew and white paint and said “…that is one reason not to paint your tubes white”. When I got back home I converted it to a truss DOB. This made it much easier to transport, too. See my 12.5 inch f/6 here. In November 2015, I donated this telescope to Naples (Florida) High School.
The second telescope that I built was an 18 inch f/4.3 DOB (see it here). The mirror blank (Pyrex, 2 inch thick) was ordered from Newport Glass. I used a pipe flange for rough grinding then switched to a plaster/tile tool for fine grinding. I think the mirror turned out pretty well. Up until recently I used a Baader Multipurpose Coma Correcter (MPCC) for coma correction. This corrector is pretty good for visual use. I haven’t compared it to their updated MPCC Mark III. I now use a Televue Paracorr Type-2 with my 18 inch.
The 18 inch DOB is really tough to carry around and set up for things like public star parties or other outreach events. So, I decided to make a 10 inch f/4.5 DOB. I made the mirror and mounted it in a hybrid Sonotube-carbon fiber tube. Originally I was just going to use just a Sonotube, but when the tube was finished I realized it was too thin for use as a telescope tube. So I added a layer of carbon fiber to the inside of the tube. This really helped strengthen the tube. This 10 inch is so much easier to transport and set than my 18 inch! I use my old MPCC in this 10 inch scope. See my 10 inch f/4.5 here.
For most of my visual astronomy I have been interested in deep-sky objects and my 18 inch is great for this type of viewing. However, I wanted something a bit better for planetary and lunar viewing so I built (including grinding and figuring the mirror) an 8 inch f/8.56 Newtonian. This has a carbon fiber tube and a carbon fiber mirror cell – both of which I made. See the carbon fiber mirror cell here.
I then decided to make a 12.5 inch f/3.6 Newtonian astrograph. More information and pictures are here. It has a 4 inch secondary and a 2 inch Feathertouch focuser and Focuser Boss II mounted in a homemade carbon fiber tube and a hybrid carbon fiber-aluminum 9 point mirror cell. See how I made the carbon fiber tube here. The mirror cell is somewhat different than the mirror cell for my 8 inch mirror. See the mirror cell for the 12.5 inch mirror here. I’m using a SBIG ST-8300 camera coupled to my Paracorr Type-2 for astrophotography. With everything loaded on the scope it weighs about 60 lbs so I needed a fairly big mount. The mount I decided on was the Mesu Mount 200. Here is my Mesu Mount 200.
How many telescopes are too many? After some initial astrophotography with my 12.5 inch f/3.6 (closer to f/4.15 with the Paracorr 2), I decided I would like a lighter scope with a wider field of view. I decided on a 6 inch f/4. The mirror came from my old Criterion Dynascope. It was a present from my Mom when I was in high school. Because the telescope was from Mom, it was a tough decision to redo the mirror. However, I seldom used the 6 inch scope even after putting it in a simple-to-transport DOB base. See the mirror here before I refigured it. Now, when I use this telescope, I always think of my mom – thanks Mom!
Finally, I made a case for storing and carrying around my eyepieces and accessories. It has a marquetry dragon on the top and the sides are made with a combination birch plywood and carbon fiber. If I make another one I’d use plywood that is half as thick as the sides now are about 1/2 inch (the case weighs a bit more than I would like). See the case here. See my other marquetry here.