The Moonshane 10" f/5

[Qualia]

The Moonshane Has Landed

The Moonshane 10” f/5 has cognitive meaning. It says something but somethiing which cannot be expressed entirely in words. It is not just a pattern of wood or of metal and mirrors, just as music is not just a pattern of sounds, or literature of pattern of words. It concentrates on subtler moments, communicates forces that we understand but cannot quite formulate in linguistic utterances. The Moonshane 10” is an extraordinary piece of work.

Living in a typical Spanish flat, I never heard the engine, nor saw the van arrive and living a generally nocturnal life, I was still in bed when the packages arrived. The delivery man, however, was not surprised when he greeted this blury eyed, unshaven fellow in t-shirt and boxers. “You have a present or two.” He said with a smile nodding towards a huge box and handing me the smaller other.

After saying my goodbye to the friendly delivery man, for some fifteen minutes or so I just sat staring at the packages, sipping at my morning coffee. I have lived long enough to learn that until I wake up beginning anything is a disatrous move. The second thing which surprised me after contemplating the sheer size of one of the boxes was just how well they were both packaged. When I started cutting them open I found box within box, padded with foam and bubble wrap, everything so carefully protected.

In the first package I found the truss rods, smooth to the touch, light yet extremely sturdy, fastened by four handwheels and bolts to a beautifully varnised piece of birch wood. There was also the fan power source, Rigel finder, Cheshire collimator, a 2” extension for the focuser, a planetary EP I had previously asked for and a container to store the handwheels and bolts.

I then went to work on the larger of the two boxes, reached in and pulled out the Moonshane 10” f/5. By any level of standard or comparison, any, I could see that before me was a top-shelf, beautifully executed telescope.

Astisanship is a rarely heard word these days and there is little surprise as to why. No material input could ever compensate for the hours of thought and attention and craftmenship that had gone into this work. In a moment, one realised that the maker of this telescope was a man of great worth and talent.

Genius is a big word, but there is a very peculiar spirit which runs through this telescope, that of absolute sublimity – a graceful care and concern towards attention and detail and craftmenship which is frightful to behold. Every thing is perfectly aligned, weighted, measured, every hole, every angle, every curve and contour.

On its second set-up this evening when we had both returned home late from work, my girlfriend had to take a seat, sit back and with a deep, thoughtful sigh could only clasp her hand to her mouth, gently shake her head from side to side and utter one time and then another, “a masterpiece.”

The sheer grandness and wonderfully evocative power of the Moonshane seems still bigger when you take into account that not only does it manage to pack so much in so little space but is also able to present all of that in a single package, beautifully structured and arranged.

There is already a detailed thread on the construction of the telescope and material used: "designed to allow this 10" mirror set to be carried in a light and compact package...constructed from birch plywood...(with) the idea...that it can be packed up and put onto a trolley or similar and carried on public transport....that even those without a car will be inspired to consider a good aperture and visit darker sites."

Rather than reveal my ignorance of construction here, I'll just add that it is varnished to a gorgeous deep walnut finish that as my girlfiend pointed out, goes fabuously well with the living-room’s furniture. The primary mirror is a Skywatcher 10” with a smaller secondary, the focusser is crayford designed with dual speed, there are the shoes to fit the Rigel, finderscope, a fan, hand sowed shroud and so on.

However, with this said, we might consider that the organization of its wood, tube assembly, truss rods, rocker box, focuser and mirrors are a necessary condition to understand and define the Moonshane, but this misses the whole point. Space is absoluetly essential here. Each detail is oceaned by space, space is oceaned by detail. One would do well to look upon the telescope with their whole body, not just with their eyes or head, but also with their auditory system (it smells wonderful), with their bones and muscles (the axis is so smooth and balanced so well), and with their heart, literally.

I can’t imagine anyone trying to pin down a single definition for this telescope. It is unique. It is beautifully handcrafted with a finish one thought had long disappeared. It is graceful, smooth, sublime and superb.

The Moonshane is a work of art.

[sgazer]

not a bad scope, as you say ;-)

[nightfisher]

Qualia, i get a slight feeling that you are happy with your new telescope It looks very good, beautifully constructed and so very practical for your use. You now need to learn the black art of collimation

On your first trip out to the desert with it, your lovely lady will have the police looking for you as you wont want to pack up and get home

I have viewed Jupiter with a 6" that Shane made and it was extremely good, enjoy it my friend and dont take long to post a first light report

[wrinkly]

Nice bit of gear but varnish is soooooo last year that my offer of a fiver only goes to disguise my envy.

ENJOY!

[foundaplanet]

It is not hard to see why you are so pleased, having followed the build thread and now seeing the completed result standing in your living room.

I know from having worked with wood for the last thirty years there is a big difference between making something and actually creating something. This is something that Shane has created to serve more than one purpose and it certainly sounds that he has executed all of them to perfection. Not only does it tick all of those boxes of function but it also looks like a beautiful object. The absolute hardest thing to do when making anything to serve a purpose is to end up with a satisfying aesthetic. A beautiful job done and I doubt it could have been made for a more appreciative person.

Looking forwards to hearing more...

I bet you can't take your eyes off it can you.. I wouldn't..

[twotter]

Move the television....you've got something much nicer to look at now

[John]

Lovely scope

Shane really does produce wonderful craftsmanship. The finish on the dob mount he did for me is that dark walnut colour too rather nice to see it used on a whole scope

[Marki]

Magnificent - I am really happy for you! I can't add anything more than the previous posters have. Given your beautifully written unboxing report, I really look forward to reading your first light report!

All the best from a cloudy York - I hope your skies stay clear so you can get that masterpiece under the stars as soon as possible!

[cotterless45]

Neat, must do something similar with my 10",

Nick.

[Damo636]

Gorgeous scope, congratulations!! Shane truly is a master craftsman, I wish I had the skills to produce something like that!

Enjoy!!

[perrin6]

Lovely - but does it work ?

[Mike73]

Very nice looking scope and congrats Rob, you are going to love 10" of aperture!

[carlc]

Whoah!

I can't wait for the sketches from the 'dob sessions'!

[Hypernova]

That is an excellent 'scope, my hat's off to Shane for creating that lovely bit of kit from scratch

I hope to follow suit (kind of) and build up a dob base for an OO newt I hope to be buying shortly.

[carlc]

"The Moonshane 10” f/5 has cognitive meaning. It says something but somethiing which cannot be expressed entirely in words. It is not just a pattern of wood or of metal and mirrors, just as music is not just a pattern of sounds, or literature of pattern of words. It concentrates on subtler moments, communicates forces that we understand but cannot quite formulate in linguistic utterances."

As always you have an exquisite way with words.

(I was going to add this to the previous post but I'd logged out and I couldn't come back and edit).

[swamp thing]

You just cannot beat a scope handcrafted from beautiful timber. Wood is by far the most attractive material from which we can build telescopes.

I know scopes are to look through etc, but to have something that's beautiful to look at too is a real bonus.

Congrats

[Qualia]

Thank you all for your kind and thoughtful replies.

I really can't take the 10" out to the desert-lands for a proper run until late Friday night (weather & energy permitting), and wasn't expecting to go out tonight for the weather this week has been quite abysmal.

Nevertheless, around 1am this evening the clouds eased off, so I nipped up onto the roof top and gave the Moonshane a quick little test run. Basically, the mission wasn't so much as a first light viewing session, so much as to give myself the chance to set up in the relative dark, figure what I might need to take out with me to the deserts (a better trolley, ground sheet, better cases to store stuff etc), polar aligning and adapting my brain to a different beast than a 4" frac generally mounted on a Gem.

Nevertheless, I did have a peek and needless to say, the views - even in the city - were spectacular.

I was bowled over with just how many stars I could see in the eyepiece and just how bright and colourful they all seemed. For no particular reason, The Moonshane's first proper sighting after Polaris and the gorgeous split was M 51. I'd never seen this before, so henceforth the telescope was christened, The Moonshane Whirlpool - which I think sounds rather cool . From there we tore north to M 82 & M 81 and onto M 94, panned right to M65 and M 66, then onto M 44, M 35, and the Messier cluster's in Auriga. It was a shame but I had arrived too late to view Jupiter or Orion and Saturn was too low down on the other side of the building.

Tonight was just a simple test run, not a proper first light and the Moonshane has blown my mind....

Thank you all again for your kind support and kindness.

[nightfisher]

The joy of living in spain, here in the uk you would have needed to wait about 30 days for the cloud to clear to get a first peek with this scope, just wait till you get away from the city

[twotter]

The 'Moonshane Whirlpool' definitely has a ring to it

Perhaps a small brass plate on the rocker box, suitably engraved with the name, date of 'birth' etc... might be a nice addition?

[Qualia]

Perhaps a small brass plate on the rocker box, suitably engraved with the name, date of 'birth' etc... might be a nice addition?

Although dumb old me didn't spot it at first, Shane had already thought of everything! There's a beautiful, detailed silver plaque under the mirror box. I'm chuffed to bits

By way of a little update. I woke up this morning in a little daze. It's already mid-afternoon and I still can't shake the views I witnessed last night. I mean, from a city, with relatively bad seeing (it's usually better but last night it was about 2 of 5) I was able to clearly see galaxies tens of millions of light years away I've never seen anything like that in my life!

Another myth was pretty much destroyed last night when I quickly gazed upon the open clusters. That of diffraction spikes. The stars were so bright, sharp and pinpoint and hard as I looked I didn't see any aberation.

The only disapointing thing is that I'm quite limited with the views I can afford from the roof top and the question of seeing much and well within a large city is rendered mute.

[foundaplanet]

I was able to clearly see galaxies tens of millions of light years away I've never seen anything like that in my life!

This is where a nice sized newt will hammer the frac. It does rather leave one dumbstruck at times.. Roll on Friday!

[scarp15]

Great craftsmanship evidently made with pride. Terrific idea for conceiving a highly portable / compact, quality built and decent, no compromise in aperture, scope. Nice to include all the additional requirements to, such as a collimator. Innovations such as this, are perhaps quite marketable from a small business perpective, driven by passion. Look forward to learning of more Moonshanes.

[estwing]

wonderfull..congrats on the dob...now watch the clouds roll in!

[John]

You can't beat a dob when it comes to deep sky objects. Wait until you see some of the brighter globular clusters at around 100x

10" of aperture really makes objects like that come alive

What is the mirror set in that scope ? - I've seen it mentioned somewhere but I've forgotten where that was.

[foundaplanet]

You can't beat a dob when it comes to deep sky objects. Wait until you see some of the brighter globular clusters at around 100x

10" of aperture really makes objects like that come alive

What is the mirror set in that scope ? - I've seen it mentioned somewhere but I've forgotten where that was.

Skywatcher from memory..