The 16" Meade Starfinder Dobsonian - no, that isn't a seat on the side, it's a laptop holder. I will put a Telrad on soon.
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41cm (16") MEADE DOBSONIAN REFLECTOR - Possum Obs
One aspect of my work is sketching objects in the sky. It is my goal to one day get a CCD camera (hopefully through grants and funding) in order to do electronic astrophotography, comet astrometry and photometry work and so on with the 16" Meade Star Finder equatorial. If I do get a CCD then the camera/16" equatorial will automatically guide on the stars (see under the '8" Guide Scope' in 'My Setup') so this will free me up to sketch objects that I visually see - enter the 16" Dobsonian. I also use for it comet hunting...
As with the 16" equatorial I also got this Californian made 16" Dobsonian scope through 'Skylab' in Christchurch. I have added my own personal touches to make it more user friendly as can be seen in the photos below.
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The 16" Meade Starfinder Dobsonian - no, that isn't a seat on the side, it's a laptop holder. I will put a Telrad on soon. |
Note that the 20cm (8") Vixen reflector can be moved between this scope and the 16" equatorial. | This is SO handy. I have a SkyCommander on the alt/az axis which plugs into the laptop for sky object ID. |
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| This altitude scale allows me to know an object's altitude. Notice the wing nut to secure the scope at high altitudes (due to the 8" mounted on its back). | This azimuth scale allows me to know an objects azimuth - handy for finding objects using a computer software program. | A rear view of the gradle, laptop holder, etc. The battery used for making lights and LEDs to go is seen. |