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Serious Home Observatories
peatbakke writes: "Here's an interesting article about the affordability of backyard observatories. Rich kids get all the fun at the moment, but it's getting better." Getting away from city lights may be the hardest part, though.
The dish (3m diameter minimum) will set you back ~150 quid, the radio receiver (1.4GHz typically) is ~300 quid for the WinRadio 1550e (PC-attachable high-frequency radio receiver), and the LNA (low-noise amplifier), feed-horn, cable and fittings came to another 300 quid. So a total of ~750 quid.
All of this is in the UK, and apart from the dish, I bought new kit. I'm sure that (a) outside the UK it's easier to get large dishes, and (b) if you bought 2nd hand, you'd be able to get the price of the hardware down. You can even make your own components if you have the knowledge.
A good source of info is the setileague website for the mini-manual or the UK site run by Jenny Bailey, although it was a bit out of date last time I looked.
Anyway, this time next week, I should be searching for aliens from my back-yard too :-)
Simon.
Physicists get Hadrons!
when I was young I lived in country QLD, Australia - no light pollution and brilliant views.
:(
then I moved to a city with more light pollution - okayish night views
now I live in a large city in China..... haven't seem stars since I got here..... damn pollution, both light and air
Think I will stick with software for my star gazing.
- HeXa
Although I wouldn't mind a computer controlled setup with ccd, I think many people who buy the 8" computer driven models would not use them as 1) it is not really good enough aperture, you want 10" or more
2) you need to do the hardyards and learn the night sky. For me finding an object takes around 20-30 minutes.
As a serious amateur with 25+ years of experience, I know the night sky well. But I have an 8" Celestron with computerized setting circles and a 5" Celestron go-to scope.
If I lived in Arizona, I might agree with you, but living near Washington, D.C., the computerized scopes make the hobby feasible. It's fine to star hop when you have a black sky full of stars. When you have 20 visible stars in the sky, the hops become a bit more like leaps of faith. The reality of viewing in an urban area is that many of the objects dim enough to require a 10" or larger scope are simply invisible due to light pollution. A larger scope simply gathers more light pollution.
The ability take the 5" scope out my door, set it up without worrying about polar alignment, and have it track is really nice. The 8" scope, because it is not computer-driven, requires a bit more work. But both perform admirably and have the advantage of providing better seeing than a larger aperture scope when the atmosphere is turbulent -- as it often is in urban areas.
I guess what I'm saying is that every scope has its place. If I lived in an area with good weather and dark skies, I'd probably have an observatory and a 16" or better Dobsonian -- in addition to my Celestron SCTs.
This includes grinding the mirror yourself, by the way. With a bit of care and patience, you can grind and polish a mirror that is accurate to within 1/10th of a wavelength of light.... that's quite a bit better than what you usually end up with when buying one from a store. I'm in the process of polishing a 16" mirror at the moment.... my first! The 16" blank, along with an 8" blank for a smaller scope and all the grinding/polishing materials cost me around $300. That doesn't include the optical tube assembly or aluminizing the mirror, but the mirror itself is usually the most expensive part anyway.
There are also those who add their own "go to" drives and such, but that seems like a bit much for me... at least with THIS scope.
My guess is that you can find an astronomy club near by with several members who can help.
More info for those interested can be found at The ATM Site (not my site).
Clear Skies,
Joe Mirando