{"id":563,"date":"2010-04-01T11:30:18","date_gmt":"2010-04-01T18:30:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.imagingtheheavens.com\/?page_id=563"},"modified":"2012-03-04T21:00:08","modified_gmt":"2012-03-05T04:00:08","slug":"telescope-making","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.imagingtheheavens.com\/?page_id=563","title":{"rendered":"Telescope Making"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Over the years I have been interested in designing and building telescopes and optics.\u00a0\u00a0 These projects have included making optics,\u00a0various dobsonian telescopes, and a 14.5″ RC f8 telescope for CCD Imaging.\u00a0 My current telescope project is rather massive in scale compared to previous designs.\u00a0 I am now in the middle of designing and building a 24″ f8 RC telescope and supporting Fork Mount.\u00a0 The design is shown below in concept form as envisioned back in 2007.<\/p>\n

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The instrumentation that I plan on using for the 24″RC will include a Secondary Focus System, built-in Instrument Rotator, MMOAG Off-Axis Guider, Apogee U16M-HC CCD Camera, and an Apogee 50-7S filterwheel.\u00a0 Below is a Field of View (FOV) comparison with U16M camera (4096 x 4096\u00a0 9 micron pixels).<\/p>\n

Here is an updated photo on the progress of the Optical Tube Assembly (OTA).\u00a0 Shown below is the camera instrumentation mounted to the Backplate assembly, which is mounted to the lower steel truss assembly.\u00a0 Also shown in the photo is the Instrumetn Rotator system.\u00a0 All this has now undergone testing and is in the final stages of cleaning up the system wiring and interface to the instrumentation.\u00a0 Also completed is the primary mirror collimation adjusters.\u00a0 The Backplate Assembly is actually a composite structure made up of aluminum, fiberglass honeycomb nomex and steel — all designed for light weight support of the Primary Mirror and associated instrumentation.<\/p>\n

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Field of View (FOV) comparison:\u00a0 Full frame with FSQ-106;\u00a0 Small box shows FOV with 24″RC\u00a0:<\/p>\n

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Lower Fork Mount Assembly
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This project has progressed in its development, with many of the structural elements already fabricated for both the Fork Mount and the Optical Tube Asembly (OTA).\u00a0 The photo above shows the newly completed Wedge and Mount assemblies as mounted on a “mock pier” in my shop.\u00a0 Next in the construction line-up is the Fork assembly.\u00a0 When completed, this 24″ RC telescope will be installed and operational at my JMSM Observatory, located in southern New Mexico.\u00a0\u00a0 An interesting aspect of this design will be its construction of high-tech composite materials, such as carbon fiber and honeycomb nomex materials.\u00a0 Shown below is a peak at the 24″ Primary Mirror (with its proud owner) for this telescope — waiting for its final resting place in the soon to be completed OTA.<\/p>\n

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Since this web site is under development, much of the content is yet to be added.\u00a0 Check back for more images on the status of this project and images of other telescope projects of years past.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Clear Skies!\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 -Mike Sherick<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[Translate] <\/p>\n

Over the years I have been interested in designing and building telescopes and optics. These projects have included making optics, various dobsonian telescopes, and a 14.5″ RC f8 telescope for CCD Imaging. My current telescope project is rather massive in scale compared to previous designs. I am now in the middle […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":96,"menu_order":4,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.imagingtheheavens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/563"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.imagingtheheavens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.imagingtheheavens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.imagingtheheavens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.imagingtheheavens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=563"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"http:\/\/www.imagingtheheavens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/563\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":632,"href":"http:\/\/www.imagingtheheavens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/563\/revisions\/632"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.imagingtheheavens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/96"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.imagingtheheavens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}