by Jay Reynolds Freeman
I must take partial responsibility for some of the bad weather that central California had over the first weekend in May, 2000: I was trying to get first light on a 10-inch f/5 Dobson that I have just completed. I finally succeeded on Tuesday, May 9, when clouds parted to reveal clear sky above my home in Palo Alto, and the threatening marine layer stayed mostly west of the hills of the San Francisco Peninsula.
It's always interesting watching the pieces of a project come together. I have been building this small truss-tube unit slowly but steadily since late January. Most of the time has been spent waiting for epoxy or Weldwood phenolic/formaldehyde glue to cure -- there are no fasteners in the parts that are permanently assembled together, just cements of various kinds. I bought the optics over a year ago, from Nova, who seems to have done nice work.
I worked hard on the design to keep the focal plane as close to the side of the tube as possible -- fortunately, my nose is short -- for compactness, light weight, and a small diagonal mirror. Thus I was worrying and checking that the focal position would not end up too close to the diagonal, but it came out just right -- the telescope easily handles the Brandons that will likely be my primary eyepieces with it, from 32 mm down through 6 mm (that last is a *very* old Brandon). The tube is yet a tad out of balance, but in the "right" direction -- I will have to add a bit of weight to the eyepiece end, until and unless I come up with some extra accessory that belongs there.
First light was the Moon, which looked dazzling and sharp at magnifications from 40x through 211x. Then, deep-sky fan that I am, I wandered around in central Virgo for a while, suburban lighting, a six-day Moon, and modest moisture in the air notwithstanding. Aperture wins; half a dozen Messier galaxies, M60, M59, M58, M87, M86, and M84, were easy at 106x, and at that magnification I also saw NGC 4387 and 4388. A bit more magnification -- 158x -- made the viewing easier in the bright sky, and I spotted NGC 4435 and 4438 -- the lead galaxies in Markarian's chain, also easily. I wrapped up the short evening with a nice view of epsilon Boo, split at 158x, though not quite cleanly, due to seeing.
I shall have some more reports on this telescope presently: It is built for traveling and I plan to travel with it. And for those of you who know to be curious about the color scheme, it is very goth -- the ground board and rocker are a rather low-intensity reddish purple (Rustoleum "Claret Wine" satin finish), the box is a similar red (Rustoleum "Colonial Red" satin finish), and all above is covered by the shroud, which is of course black rip-stop nylon. The shroud was perhaps the greatest technical risk in the project for me, as I am not much of a tailor, but fortunately I have a friend who has worked in the garment industry, who helped me by doing nearly the whole thing herself. I hope I can return some equivalent favor. Actually, she worked in a boutique that makes fetish lingerie -- spectacular corsets and the like -- which made me think that maybe I should take out some of that eyepiece-end weight allowance with acorn nuts or leather restraints. Well, at any rate, how about a little lace?