Long weekend away to visit my aunt and uncle.....and the observatory :)

[Jonny_H]

As above, I took my wife and boys to visit my aunt and uncle recently and finally got to see in person the observatory 😊 Needless to say I was like a big kid in a toy shop!

Unfortunately the weather didn't play ball so didn't get a chance to look through the scope but hoping to go back up in the autumn.....got to love our beautiful British weather. Apparently about an hour after we left they had clear skies!!!🙄 can't win them all.

Anyhow, a couple of photos of the obs and scope.

Clear skies,

Jonny

[Peter Drew]

Is that telescope the original Horace Dall 15" Cassegrain ?, it looks to be a very similar design.           🤔

[Jonny_H]

27 minutes ago, Peter Drew said:

Is that telescope the original Horace Dall 15" Cassegrain ?, it looks to be a very similar design.           🤔

Hi Peter,

Yes it is indeed the very same 15.5".  Very impressive piece of kit and was restored to as near original as possible. In my uncles words, it was refurbished so that Horace would easily recognise it if he were to walk into the observatory and see it again.

I was disappointed not to get an opportunity to view anything through it (due to the weather) although I did get a quick lesson on collimating it so not all bad 

Edited July 8, 2021 by Jonny_H

[Peter Drew]

Thanks for the confirmation.  I saw it many times during visits to Horace but never did get to use it.  I did manage to look through his solar prominence telescope that he fitted to it.      🙂

[Jonny_H]

48 minutes ago, Peter Drew said:

Thanks for the confirmation.  I saw it many times during visits to Horace but never did get to use it.  I did manage to look through his solar prominence telescope that he fitted to it.      🙂

I haven't been into this hobby for long and have only recently learnt of him but from what I understand he was an absolute magician when it came to optics! I would have liked to of met him but i was only a nipper when he passed away.

On a similar topic -  I read on here that you used to run AE Luton for a fair stint (apologies in advance if I have got that wrong or I'm generally talking nonsense)?  I have been looking lately to see if any AE scopes come up for sale 🙂 I gather they are hard to come by though 😩

Edited July 8, 2021 by Jonny_H

[Peter Drew]

Not AE although I did have a long association with that company.  I was a director of Astrosystems and ran my own separate company Bedford Astronomical Supplies.  I have a 5" F15 triplet objective, originally by Ross of London but refigured for me by Horace.  One of my most prized possessions.    🙂

[Rusted]

I have only seen a B&W photograph of Dall's telescope. I was trying to make a lighter 10" f/8.
Judging by that design alone then Dall was a genius at geometry, engineering and design.
If you do go back then a picture of the mirror end of the instrument would be nice.
Just to complete the picture. 

[Jonny_H]

19 hours ago, Rusted said:

I have only seen a B&W photograph of Dall's telescope. I was trying to make a lighter 10" f/8.
Judging by that design alone then Dall was a genius at geometry, engineering and design.
If you do go back then a picture of the mirror end of the instrument would be nice.
Just to complete the picture. 

The photo wasn't my best work - I think it was all the excitement which caused all photography framing skills to go completely out of the window! 😆

Hoping to go back up in September.

[F15Rules]

On 08/07/2021 at 21:30, Jonny_H said:

I haven't been into this hobby for long and have only recently learnt of him but from what I understand he was an absolute magician when it came to optics! I would have liked to of met him but i was only a nipper when he passed away.

On a similar topic -  I read on here that you used to run AE Luton for a fair stint (apologies in advance if I have got that wrong or I'm generally talking nonsense)?  I have been looking lately to see if any AE scopes come up for sale 🙂 I gather they are hard to come by though 😩

Lovely photos Jonny☺️👍.

You mentioned AE scopes...

Here's a link to an old thread I posted about an AE 4.5" F14.4 refractor I owned 10+ years back..

The photos aren't the best as mobile phone cameras weren't so good then!

I traded the scope with John Timmins at Peak2Valley optics in Buxton. I don't know what he did with it though?

Dave

Edited July 10, 2021 by F15Rules
Typo

[Rusted]

Just found this:

Horace Dall Telescope and observatory

[F15Rules]

1 hour ago, F15Rules said:

Lovely photos Jonny☺️👍.

You mentioned AE scopes...

Here's a link to an old thread I posted about an AE 4.5" F14.4 refractor I owned 10+ years back..

The photos aren't the best as mobile phone cameras weren't so good then!

I traded the scope with John Timmins at Peak2Valley optics in Buxton. I don't know what he did with it though?

Dave

Hi again Jonny,

Searching old emails, I can now tell you that I bought the AE 4.5" from Linton Guise in Bedford (top man!), and sold it to Robin Butland in Somerset (also a lovely chap).

All this was back in 2010..

HTH,

Dave

[lguise]

2010! Where do the years go! I wonder if Robin still has it?

Jonny by the way hidden behind the pillar in your photo looks to me like an AE probably 6” or 8” Newt on one of their ‘B’ type Equatorial mounts. You were probably too distracted by the main scope to give it much attention!

My first ‘proper’ telescope was an AE 10” Newt on the larger ‘C’ mount. A cracking scope in its day but things move on.

You can see the scope in my little picture thingy…(senior moment can’t remember what you call this)

All the Best,

Linton

[Jonny_H]

1 hour ago, lguise said:

2010! Where do the years go! I wonder if Robin still has it?

Jonny by the way hidden behind the pillar in your photo looks to me like an AE probably 6” or 8” Newt on one of their ‘B’ type Equatorial mounts. You were probably too distracted by the main scope to give it much attention!

My first ‘proper’ telescope was an AE 10” Newt on the larger ‘C’ mount. A cracking scope in its day but things move on.

You can see the scope in my little picture thingy…(senior moment can’t remember what you call this)

All the Best,

Linton

Hi Linton.

Indeed this is a 6". We did speak about it briefly but to your point the main focus was on the 15.5"

He used to have a number of AE's but most have now been sold on.

Re: picture - I have a little brain fog at the moment but I want to say that they are called avatars?  I may have made that up though!

Regards,

Jonny