Telescopes of Laurentiu Alimpie

 Laurentiu,which is standing for Lawrence in Romanian language,is an amateur astronomer and ATM-er living in Timisoara. He built his first telescope in 2003. This was an 8 inch F/6 Dobsonian with main and secondary mirrors from Orion Telescopes in USA. The optical set being bought and carried to Romania by Alin Tolea. Altough moved to USA  long time ago ,Alin ,an avid amateur astronomer himself,did not forget felow amateur astronomers from Romania and is helping us in many ways.

The first incarnation of the 8 inch F/6 Newtonian telescope,named  ''Darkmatter'', used a PVC main tube and a playwood Dobsonian mounting.

Note the fan for cooling the main mirror, the handles,the eyepiece shelf and the Herschelian position of the focuser.

The telescope had an 11x50mm finder built by Laurentiu from pieces recovered from a scrap binocular.

But this telescope was too heavy. The complete optical tube alone  weighted 20 kilograms (44 pounds) due to the tick PVC tube , the square tube box and altitude trunions.

 Laurentiu decided to rebuild his telescope using stainless-steel sheet for the tube ,wich now weight ,completly equiped, 10  kilograms,an important weight reduction for convenience in handling,transportation to dark sites and for  faster reaching of thermal equilibrium .

The ''optick tube'' was entirely rebuilt. Because it become obvious the telescope cannot be used from the ''orange'' downtown of Timisoara ,the new tube was made shorter.

And components was not just moved from one tube to another tube,the OTA was entirely rebuilt.

Let see some more picks.

The new main mirror cell ,home-made of Aluminium,showed face down .

When the picture was made ,wood spacers was used instead of the springs between the T cell and the three L brackets going to be bolted to the main tube.

Note the flotation mirror suport made of the three rectangular levers.

The new secondary mirror suport,the spider being made of Aluminium and wood.

Tube rings and cradle to attache the tube to an equatorial German mounting.

The main mirror is attached to the six-points flotation cell by RTV silicon bond,shown here while curing.

This is the new Newtonian telescope,named ''Starcruiser'',on an EQ5 equatorial german mounting.

I would say: ''Astrophoto,watch out,somebody is looking after you'' !

Next of Laurentiu's instrument was this 60mm F/15 refractor,named ''Viespea / the Wasp'',intended to be his guiding telescope for large scale astro-photography endeavour.

But, as we see in this picture taken at a Star-Party held  June 13-th  2010, at Tormac-Timisoara,the Dobsonian mount was not abandoned, the 8 inch F/6 Newtonian being a versatil telescope  used in both configurations,as equatorialy mounted or as  Dobsonian.

Laurentiu is also paying attention to his accesories.He enjoy using his Baader  Hyperion,Plossl or Orthoscopic  eyepieces but  he decided to use coma corrector to improve extra-axial image quality.Consequently he designed the ring adapters seen below.

This rings,with heights of 6mm, 14mm and 28mm are allowing the use of Baader MPCC coma corrector with 2 inch and 1.25 inch oculars and they are accordingly provided with M48 and T threads.

The 14mm ring and 28mm may be used also with the modular Baader Hyperion oculars to obtain additional foci by altering the  configuration of already existing oculars.

For astrophotography ,Laurentiu adapted this 110mm F/4 Newtonian by changing the 35mm secondary miror with a 60mm one;and changing the 1.25 focuser with the 2 inch Crayford focuser ,home-made of ofcourse by him.

Please note the insteresting hexagonal rings for the guiding telescope - I let you guess who made them and where.

This is a refractor , called  ''Cassino Royal'' , built around a Surplus Shed 70x500 mm object-glass . The instrument get his '' a la James Bond'' nickname from the anti-perspirant can of which the dewshield was made.

The astrographic combo consisting of the 110 F/4 modified Newtonian,the 70x500mm ''Cassino Royal'' guiding refractor on the EQ5 German equatorial mounting.

The device mounted in the refractor's focuser is the home-made auto-guiding camera.

The auto-guiding camera was obtained by integrating in a dedicated body  a Philips SPC 900 NC webcam,modified ''on open heart'' by one of Laurentiu's friend.

The last of Laurentiu's projects I am aware of is the refurbishment of this old surveyor tripod.

https://picasaweb.google.com/laurentiu.alimpie

For more details you may write directly to :

''laurentiudotalimpieatgmaildotcom''

(You know the anti-spam trick,please write ''at'' and ''dot'' as read)

Exquisite 60mm home-made long focus refractor

On behalf of Silviu aka ''zoth'',amateur astronomer in Bucharest,Romania.

The instrument was first described in November 2010 on ''60mmtelescopeclub'',a great yahoogroup dedicated to small telescope astronomy.

See:http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/60mmtelescopeclub/?yguid=235571953

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I'm going to tell you the story of a ''new under the stars'' peculiar 60mm refractor.The story started 38 years ago when Silviu at age 12 fall in love with the stary heaven.At that time a 60mm refractor seem to him a huge telescope and it was only a dream,unachievable dream.

Things changed a lot over the years and after owning and building more telescopes, Silviu,already an acomplished ATM-er,saw an opportunity in 2009 to make his dream come true.He designed a 60x840mm classic Fraunhofer objective ,using BK7 and F2 glass.But then he had to face the reality of optical shops who are using tools with pre-determined radii.So Silviu had to adapt his project and re- optimise keeping the eyes on the goal:making of an exquisite small refractor objective.The end result is the actual 60x828mm lens,with a spacing of 0.09mm,anti-reflection coated with a multi-layer broad band AR coating.The non-colimatable Aluminium cell is also designed by Silviu.Like the home-made 1.25 inch and 60mm travel sliding focuser ,the body being made of Aluminium and the steel draw-tube having two internal steps.The tube of the refractor is a re-used Al tube wich housed a 60x900mm lens of ''Alcor'' brand and have two baffles while another two baffles are in the draw-tube of the focuser. OTA have a length of 750mm and weight 1.4 kilograms.

The refractor is riding a TS-AZ Teleskop Service mounting.

The refractor was finished Sunday,fourteenths of November, but the first light happened in September.Oculars used for the first light was PL 17mm/48x;Ortho 9mm/92x;ortho7mm/118x;ortho6mm/138x.The Moon images was gorgeous,no traces of chromatic aberation,similar to Silviu's 80mm ED,very good definition,crisp images,fine details,awesome contrast.One thing noticed by Silviu was that while at 138x the lower light made Moon observation more comfortable,there where no aditional details compared to 118x.Anyway,no trace discerned of any haze due to CA or spherical aberation.

On Jupiter,at 92x,very clean images,again no haze due to aberations,the NEB very clear but hints of some structure and of more belts toward the Northern Pole.Siviu pushed in the 7mm ortho for 118x and he noticed ,very pleased ,festoons in NEB and confirmation of more jovian belts ,much less conspicious and without further details.

One galilean satelite was very close to jovian limb.

In his letter about the first light,Silviu is stating that he made observations of Jupiter through many instruments and from many locations but this was the best Jovian images ever.Not even his 5 inch Mak,very dear to him,did not offered such exquisit images.His conclusion is this:folowing his childhood dream to build a long focus small achromatic refractor was more than worthwhile and is a winner on planetary details.

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Description made by me,Mircea, according to details and pictures from Silviu.I will add here only the logo created by Robert Little for the ''60mmtelescopeclub'':

Testul lui Lockyer

In cartea sa ''Stargazing:Past and Present'', din a carei editie din 1878 citez mai jos , Norman Lockyer ne propune sa testam telescoapele noastre pe o secventa de dificultate crescanda de stele duble si multiple din constelatia Orion. Toate stelele principale ale acestor stele duble si multiple sunt vizibile cu ochiul liber, ceea ce face ca acest test sa fie usor de facut.

Testul verifica atat capacitatea de colectare a luminii cat si cea de rezolvare a detaliilor fine si se adreseaza in primul rand posesorilor de telescoape mici,sa zicem de la 60mm la 100mm diametru, desi una dintre duble este atat de stransa incat necesita, pentru a fi rezolvata in componente , un bun telescop de 150mm diametru.

Am parcurs acest test in dimineata zilei de 10 Decembrie 2010, cu telescopul meu Dobson de 125mm F/7 si am gasit stelele cu usurinta , cu grosismente chiar si de peste 300x , folosind doar cautatorul acestuia de 8x35mm.Stelele sunt toate usor de gasit,fiind vizibile cu ochiul liber,poate cu exceptia stelei 52 Ori care se pierde usor in pacla atmosferica si in poluarea urbana.

Asadar iata secventa de stele de observat:

Delta Ori

Beta  Ori

Zeta  Ori

Sigma Ori

Lambda Ori

52 Ori

Rezultatul testului este unul singur: Lockyer ne spune ca telescopul care da imagini clar rezolvate,fara aberatii,cu spatiu negru vizibil intre componentele chiar si ale ultimei stele duble din secventa,ei bine...''acel telescop nu este unul de dispretuit''.

Ceea ce  inseamna mult atunci cand vine de la un astronom cu experienta,competenta si exigenta lui Lockyer,si,prin asumare,ale tuturor numelor mari pomenite in descrierea testului:Amiralul Smyth,Kitchiner cel ciudat,John Herschel si Struve.

Sublinierile si impartirea in alineate imi apartine si ajuta la intelegerea acestui test.

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Star test your Objective Glass

Quotes from ‘’STARGAZING: PAST AND PRESENT’’ by J.Norman Lockyer

London. MACMILLAN AND CO. 1878

Book II,CHAP. XII,page 164-166

‘’The convenient altitude at which Orion culminates in

these latitudes renders it particularly eligible for observation

; and during the first months of the year our

readers who would test their telescopes will do well not

to lose the opportunity of trying the progressively

difficult tests, both of illuminating and separating power,

afforded by its various double and multiple systems,

which are collected together in such a circumscribed

region of the heavens that no extensive movement of

their instruments an important point in extreme cases

will be necessary.

Beginning with DELTA, the upper of the three stars which

form the belt, the two components will be visible in

almost any instrument which may be used for seeing

them, being of the second and seventh magnitudes, and

well separated. 

The companion to BETA though of the same

magnitude as that to DELTA , is much more difficult to observe,

in consequence of its proximity to its bright primary,

a first-magnitude star. Quaint old Kitchener, in his

work on telescopes, mentions that the companion to

Rigel has been seen with an object-glass of 2 3/4-inch

aperture ; it should be seen, at all events, with a 3 -inch.

ZETA the bottom star in the belt, is a capital test both of

the dividing and space-penetrating power, as the two

bright stars of the second and sixth magnitudes, of

which the close double is composed, are exactly 2.5" apart,

while there is a companion to one of these components

of the twelfth magnitude about 3/4 seconds distant. The small star below, which the late Admiral Smyth, in his charming book," The Celestial Cycle," mentions as a test for his object-glass of 5*9 inches in diameter, is now plainly to be seen in a 3 3/4 inch. The colours of this pair have been variously stated ; Struve dubbing the sixth magnitude which, by the way, was missed altogether by Sir John Herschel "olivaceasubrubicunda."

That either our modern opticians contrive to admit

more light by means of a superior polish imparted to the

surfaces of the object-glass, or that the stars themselves

are becoming brighter, is again evidenced by the point of

light preceding one of the brightest stars in the system composing SIGMA . This little twinkler is now always to be seen in a 3 3/4-inch, while the same authority we have before quoted -Admiral Smyth -speaks of it as being of very difficult vision in his instrument of much larger dimensions. In this very beautiful compound system there are no less than seven principal stars ; and there are several other faint ones in the field. 

The upper veryfaint companion of LAMBDA is a delicate test for a 3 3/4-inch,

which aperture, however, will readily divide the closer

double of the principal stars which are about 5" apart.

These objects, with the exception of ZETA, have been given

more to test the space-penetrating than the dividing

power ; the telescope's action on 52 Orionis will at once

decide this latter quality. This star, just visible to the

naked eye on a fine night, to the right of a line joining

ALPHA and DELTA, is a very close double. The components, of the

sixth magnitude, are separated by less than two seconds

of arc, and the glass which shows a good wide black

division between them, free from all stray light, the

spurious disk being perfectly round, and not too large,

is by no means to be despised.

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Cartea ''Stargazing:Past and Present'' a lui J. Norman Lockyer poate fi descarcata prin linkul de mai jos,sponsorul  digitalizarii fiind Google:

 http://ia700406.us.archive.org/34/items/stargazingpasta01seabgoog/stargazingpasta01seabgoog.pdf

Atasez ,din cuprinsul vast al acestei foarte interesante carti, doua  ''optick tubes'' ,pentru a intelege cum erau gandite si executate telescoapele   in epoca in care a fost publicata cartea . 

''Optick tubul'' din partea de sus a figurii este al unui telescop Newton de 25cm diametru iar cel de jos  este al marelui telescop din Melbourne de 120cm diametru, construit de firma Grubb din Irlanda.

Telescopul din Melbourne a fost ultimul ''dinozaur'' dintre telescoapele de observator cu oglinda principala realizata din bronz de telescop, ca de altfel si  oglinda sa secundara Cassegrain.Acest ultim telescop a beneficiat si de luxul de a avea doua seturi de oglinzi:un set era in uz,adica ''de serviciu'' in timp ce celalalt set era in curs de relustruire.

Norman Lockyer depicted observing at his large refracting telescope