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What is the biggest Telescope that You have ever looked through ?


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My friend's hand built 24" dob.

The experience is something else. Spiral arms with knotty Hii regions on M33. Veil nebula with intricate detail. Central star easily seen in M57. I could go on.

I am very fortunate to observe with him on several occasions where my 12" feels quite inadequate. He calls me over to look at the more exotic faint stuff he loves to look at. A privilege.

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A friend of mine that built an 18" Newt. I'll get a pic of it sometime. It has a carry weight of like over 200kgs, he has 5 telescopes radially attached to it. visual Frac, 10" Newt, 6" Newt, 2 guide scopes (400mm and 1200mm).

He was the curator for the South African Cederberg Observatory.

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My friend's hand built 24" dob.

The experience is something else. Spiral arms with knotty Hii regions on M33. Veil nebula with intricate detail. Central star easily seen in M57. I could go on.

I am very fortunate to observe with him on several occasions where my 12" feels quite inadequate. He calls me over to look at the more exotic faint stuff he loves to look at. A privilege.

Unfortunately the 24 inch I looked through was focused on the moon! If only if it were trained on something else! :D Huge queues as well, so it was a quick glance and back down the ladder...

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I've viewed through a 20 inch David Lukehurst dobsonian a few years back. I only got a short time at the eyepiece so we looked at M13 and M51. I can tell you that those views will be with me for a long time :grin:

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I've looked through the Wilfred Hall 15" refractor at Alston Observatory, Longridge, Lancs.

dome_progress_1_small.JPG

It was in the mid 80's at some public viewing session. Possibly for Comet Halley. It now belongs to UCLAN http://www.star.uclan.ac.uk/alston/ who are currently bringing the facility back into service having been shut for some years. I believe PADAS (Preston and dist ast soc) also have an interest in the observatory.

It was a very quick view, whatever it was for and wasn't worth the queuing.

I'll make do with my 10" newt in future :)

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Oddly enough not a Dob but a refractor, the Lick 36" Jupiter was so bright it looked like the full moon through my 7"! Below was my impression of the view.

And ironically the view of Jupiter through a 7" Astrophysics Starfire outside the observatory was significantly better. Aperture is a big factor in telescopes but not the be all and end all of planetary observing :)

post-37954-0-01254500-1417035052.jpg

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The 24" Radcliffe refractor at the University of London Observatory in Mill Hill. Seeing was diabolical so it wasn't the revelation I was hoping for. It was trained on Jupiter. It was usually set up with a ccd but one night we had some old fashioned eyepieces in.

As an undergraduate I very nearly crashed the raising floor into that scope. I think that would have guaranteed a fail.

Paul

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I've looked through the Wilfred Hall 15" refractor at Alston Observatory, Longridge, Lancs.

dome_progress_1_small.JPG

It was in the mid 80's at some public viewing session. Possibly for Comet Halley. It now belongs to UCLAN http://www.star.uclan.ac.uk/alston/ who are currently bringing the facility back into service having been shut for some years. I believe PADAS (Preston and dist ast soc) also have an interest in the observatory.

It was a very quick view, whatever it was for and wasn't worth the queuing.

I'll make do with my 10" newt in future :)

Yes, me too on an UCLAN course. Glorious old beast! Nice to see your pic.

My record is 0.8 metres at the Observatoire des Baronnies about 20Km in a straight line from me. http://a404.idata.over-blog.com/4/15/06/42/DSCN7169.JPG We watched a shadow transit of Callisto on Jupiter. The resolution was excellent, the cloud bands sharp and their colour a spendid brick red. But wait for the punchline; this was in the middle of the afternoon on a blazngly bright sunny spring day...  

I've yet to encounter a Dob bigger than our own Sir Isaac mentioned by Michael but I know that there's a bigger Obsession in the neighbourhood. And then there's Dany Cardoen's 1 metre RC down at Puismichel. Hmmm...

Olly

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Yes, me too on an UCLAN course. Glorious old beast! Nice to see your pic.

I'd have liked more time to just look at the scope but we were being shepherded through the building to keep the queue moving so no chance :(

I just linked the photo from the UCLAN web site.

I'm amazed it's been out of use for some time. I guess upkeep is quite expensive on the building though. 

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I'd have liked more time to just look at the scope but we were being shepherded through the building to keep the queue moving so no chance :(

I just linked the photo from the UCLAN web site.

I'm amazed it's been out of use for some time. I guess upkeep is quite expensive on the building though. 

I was able to see Saturn in it about twelve or thirteen years ago. It had a problem with vibration in the mount but was certainly working. The dual OTA setup is interesting. One of the scopes is corrected for visual and the other for plate photography. They were unable to make a single fully apochromatic lens at the time so, rather than compromise, the original owner just ordered two. It seems that modern attitudes to astronomical spending have a long history...

Twin%20Tak%20Mesu-Th.jpg

:grin: lly

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I've looked AT the Wilfred Hall 15" many times when I used to attend the Alston Hall BAA weekends. I remember the objective being really grimey and offered to remove and clean it, the offer was declined. The largest refractor I have looked through was the 15" at Stoneyhurst College, maybe it wasn't a good night as Saturn was not particularly impressive.

As a historical aside, it was the regular visits to Alston Hall that drew me to the North West to found the Astronomy Centre.  :smiley:

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