I have not used the observatory I built (with the help of a couple of friends about 20 years ago) for some time now. Riding my motorcycle became more of a desire than using telescopes I built and have used.
But, two Sunday's ago, our church had a little thing after the Sunday Morning service called St. Luke's Got Talent. The idea was to show what "talents" the members of the church had that some may not. Have.
Most of the talent presentations were either singing or playing a musical instrument. I asked the Pastor if I could do a presentation on "Telescope Making". So, I had to go get a Telescope to take to the presentation along with a PowerPoint presentation on what the average person could to to make a telescope.
I have made 8" and 10" and 12.5" and a 24" reflecting telescope. All, except the 8" are still operational. (well the mirror on the 24" is need of clearing.
This is a picture of the Observatory just after we finished building it.
This is a picture of how the Roll Off roof is construction.
The wheel/rollers set on a 4" x 4" piece of steel angle iron about 24 feet long (welded together to get the needed length.
Well, today I just wanted to clean it up and remove the squirrel "nests" that the squirrels seem to build each fall. Today, when I cleaned out one place I actually had two squirrels run off. Lucky there were no baby squirrels. I would have felt a little guilt about that.
But I cleaned up the inside and made sure all the electronics still work. This includes the computers that I use to find objects and the telescope drive. The drive is just a 60Hz 120 VAC motor but. the controller allows you to change the speed from normal to fast to slow so you can re-center objects in the telescope's eyepiece.
So, here are some pictures of the interior after cleanup.
12.5" f/5 Newtonian Reflector (I built).
The only parts I did not build were the bearing used for the shaft and the gears used for the drive. Oh and the pipe fittings and bearings.
Here is a view of the stuff I used to find some objects (other are other similar ways but I like gadgets).
The three computer screens are used for various operations and I can change their inputs. The main computer is an older iMac. The black box is the telescope drive controller, the second one I built. It as not as "versatile" as the first but work.
Here is a picture of the 24" Dobsonian I built and used at Star Parties.
Here is a picture of the 10" Dob. It is the one I took to the Church for my presentation. It's nice, simple and easy to use.
And last, but not really least, is something called a "CopyScope". Back in the day, people were trying to get simple telescopes so they can be easily shared. This one is simple. It's a lens from an "older" copy machine. It has a right angle eyepiece holder and is till useable.
And this is a picture I took with the 12.5" telescope using a 35mm camera attacked to the telescope focuser. It's probably a 30 to 40 minute guided exposure.
Today, many of the pictures are taken with CCD cameras and are short exposures and the images are stacked to give greater detail. I still like the old school method.
However, I did build a CD-245 CCD Camera back in the late 90's. This image may be from that camera.
You take a bunch of short time exposures and then use a computer to "stack" the images to improve the detail. Back then we only had access to black and white CCD imagers (well at least that was all I had.
It might have even won a photo contest back in the summer of 1999.
http://midlandsastronomyclub.org/gallery/1999pics/su99sccd.shtml
