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If you won the lottery what astro gear would you buy and why?

rowan46

By rowan46
in The Astro Lounge

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pbyrne

pbyrne

Posted
Posted

I think I would like to buy a house in the country with a great southerly aspect.

I would have three observatories constructed, in the first I would get the largest SCT I could find and mount it on a Paramount ME. In the second I would house a large refractor, also on a Paramount. In the third I would have the largest solar scope I could get, also on a Paramount. All would be capable of remote operation for CCD imaging.

I would also build a large open space for a large number of scopes to be set up, I would have an accomodation block built for friends to stay overnight when they came to observe, so they would not have to drive home at night. There would be beds, bathrooms and cooking provisions.

Now, can anyone give me six lucky numbers?:eek:

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RichieJarvis

RichieJarvis

Posted
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Ahhh - most of the cost of buying the HST would be for the shuttle programme to support it - you could probably pick the HST itself up for pennies, as its destined to be burnt up anyway!

Which reminds me - maybe we should start a campaign to boost the HST into a higher, stable orbit, a museum area in space for future generations?

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FraserClarke

FraserClarke

Posted
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Palomar has an observing element - when it was first in operation it was used more. Its probably not used at all these days.

The observer sits in the centre of the scope where the secondary mirror would sit in a common reflector. Imagine that - a scope so large that you and your mate can sit inside the secondary housing. What a crack :eek:

Palomar does still have an eyepiece which can be mounted at the Coudé focus of the 200-inch. It is still used on special occasions (i.e. if you turned up saying; "I've just won the lottery and am thinking of donating some money to your observatory; show me why I should..."). I don't know if they could still observe at prime focus though. I suspect not given the raft of instruments that use it now.

On another note, a shuttle trip to HST costs about 600 million dollars; so the lottery would still leave you a bit short ;)

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thesatanbug

thesatanbug

Posted
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Did you say win the lottery?

Why, only last week my email won the Bill Gates Microsoft online charity lotto giveaway. $18,000,000

The FBI (Nigeria) Department of Justice scam victim's anti-fraud Lottery (Robert Mueller III himself is handling that personally) $23,000,000

And the United Nations email Compensation Award Lotto. Only $8,000,000... Which is hardly worth getting out of bed for.

Not a bad haul for one week. I could buy the whole of space with that much money and bring the planets and stars to me. Now, where's the nearest Western Onion or Money Grab office so I can pay these retched fees? :eek:

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yesyes

yesyes

Posted
Posted
Did you say win the lottery?

Why, only last week my email won the Bill Gates Microsoft online charity lotto giveaway. $18,000,000

The FBI (Nigeria) Department of Justice scam victim's anti-fraud Lottery (Robert Mueller III himself is handling that personally) $23,000,000

And the United Nations email Compensation Award Lotto. Only $8,000,000... Which is hardly worth getting out of bed for.

Not a bad haul for one week. I could buy the whole of space with that much money and bring the planets and stars to me. Now, where's the nearest Western Onion or Money Grab office so I can pay these retched fees? ;)

Funny you should mention that. My email address has won a few million US$ (!) in the Chinese National Lottery. I had no idea China uses US$. One never stops learning... :eek:

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cathalferris

cathalferris

Posted
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If I won the standard Lottery e.g. c. 1million, I'd buy some of the below and take regular holidays to sunny places.

If I won in the order of 10 million though, I'd probably move to somewhere sunny like Tenerife or the south of France, build a nice big house on a south facing slope at a reasonable altitude with a design that's suitable for the local climate of course - thick walls, small windows, tiled roof, water capture and storage, air con, and a decent underground garage. I'd build a lot of the house underground for good thermal control.

What:

At the side of the house I'd build a large motorised roll-off roof observatory with heavily insulated roof and walls, with air conditioning to keep the contents at a typical dusk/night-time temperature.

On the pad of that roll-off roof structure I would have a Ascension 200HR on a pier, supporting a PlaneWave CDK 20" scope. Piggyback on that scope would be a C11HD with Fastar and a decent one-shot-colour Starlight Express CCD. Also on the piggyback would be a custom-made AstroPhysics 8" refractor.

For general quick setup and viewing at the house I'd like to have a 12" or 16" motorised JMI binoscope, preferably with the ability to track on an alt-az mount. I could easily enough manage the problem of the body heat plume across the entrance with careful ducting at the upper end.

I'd also have a binocular-setup for H-alpha Sun observations.

For general travelling by car or camper I'd like to have a 15" or 18" Obsession UC with a servocat and a case of TeleVue optics and a binoviewer.

For a really lightweight travelscope, I'd commission a carbon fibre construction briefcase dob of about 8"-10" and have that to hand for the most lightweight of travel companions..

Anything much larger than the 20" would get a little unweildy to actually use in real life I would think. The 50" Orion-USA dob sound fantastic though the fact of having to use a large ladder or a cherry picker kinda makes it a bit harder to make it easy!

The most imporant thing for me though would be to relocate to a less-cloudy place. All the best amateur equipment in the world would be of no use if there were too many clouds to actually get to use it!

Why?

the choice of the 20" CDK would allow for great views of the normal objects, the focal plane would be in a manageable location and the aperture would be more than enough for most of the viewing that I can do. The mount is strong enough and accurate enough to allow the possibility of complete computerisation of the installation to allow for when I get old and possibly infirm.

The C11HD is a nice widefield imager with the Fastar and the right choice of camera.

The AP refractor would be just to allow great views of planets and double stars if I was imaging at that time with the CDK.

The Obsession mobile scope would be a good compromise between weight and aperture for the purpose of travelling by car or camper.

An uber-light compact dob for travelling by air would mean that going on a long holiday to e.g. NZ would not mean having to leave the scopes behind.

I've always liked the concept of the 12" or 16" jmi binoscopes on wheels and they would make pretty good grab'n'go for use on the poolside terrace for party viewing.

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