Hardware

This is the newest addition to our family...see our image gallery to view images we've taken using this telescope.

Eyepieces	Barlows	Visual Adapters	Filters	Cameras	Collimation tools
Televue 40mm Plossl 1.25"	Televue 2X Big Barlow 2"	Televue BinoVue 2x1.25"	Omega OIII/H-Beta Nebula Filter 2"	Canon Digital Rebel/300D 6.3MP	Kendrick 2" Laser Collimator
Televue 35mm Panoptic 2"	Televue 2.5X Barlow 1.25"	Scopetronix ETX Focal Reducer (F/13.8-F/6.9)	Orion Ultrablock Narrowband Filter 2"	SAC7 640x480 Long Exposure CCD Camera	Tectron Site Tube Collimation Tool
2 Televue 32mm Plossls (for BinoVue) 1.25"	Televue Panoptic Barlow Interface 2"	Sac 6.3/3.3 Focal Reducer	Orion Variable Polarizing Filter 2"	Sony TRV-103 Digital8 640x480 Camcorder	Tectron Cheshire Collimation Tool
Televue 26mm Plossl 1.25"	Orion Shorty 2X Barlow 1.25"	Meade #644 Flip Mirror System	Orion SkyGlow Broadband Filter 1.25"	D-Link DSC-350 Digital Camera	Tectron Autocollimator Collimation Tool
Celestron "Silver" 26mm Plossl 1.25"	Televue 2X BinoVue Corrector 1.25"		Orion ND MOON Filter 1.25"	QuickCam PRO USB 640x480 Color WebCam	Homemade Laser Collimator 1.25"
Televue 22mm Panoptic 2"/1.25"			Orion RED No. 25 Filter 1.25"	QuickC am WEB USB 640x480 Color WebCam	Laser Mate Deluxe 1.25" Collimator
Televue 21mm Plossl 1.25"			Orion YELLOW No. 15 Filter 1.25"	QuickC am VC USB 640x480 Color WebCam
Televue 13mm Plossl 1.25"			Orion BLUE No. 80A Filter 1.25"	QuickC am VC Parallel 640x480 B&W WebCam
Meade 12mm Illuminated Reticle/Rigel Reticle Wireless			Orion GREEN No. 58 Filter 1.25"
Televue 10.5mm Plossl 1.25"			2 Homemade BAADER Solar Filters 90mm (ETX)...(One has 2 sheets)
Televue 7.4mm Plossl 1.25"			Homemade BAADER Solar Filter 70mm (DS70)
Televue 4.8mm Nagler 1.25"			2 Homemade BAADER Solar Filters 50mm ea. (Binoculars)
			Tiffen 48mm (2") Moon Filter

Scopetronix ETX Focal Reducer, F/13.8 to F/6.9...this little beauty doubled the field of view of my ETX90!

Megan, staring in awe at M13 (globular cluster in Hercules). She is using our Televue BinoVue & two 32mm Televue Plossls. You just have to try to imagine the views. 6/7/02

Homemade Battery Box to power everything...75Ah AC/DC & 10Amp quick charger...Click here for details

Homemade Electronic Focusers for Obsession 20", ST80 & ETX90...Click here for details

Above, you can see that I added a few intermediate rungs to our ladder. It's now much easier to find a comfortable position while observing.

Picture showing 12V Adjustable Pulse Width Modulated Control Box I made to control the power distribution to all my accessories.

Line up the object in the viewfinder...in this case, Jupiter (just below the Telrad window in the first picture)...and there you go...it's just that easy! (second picture)

Update: We now use my new battery box (shown above) to power all the devices listed below...a powered ground board passes the power through the obsession base into a distribution panel located inside the rocker box (see ServoCat installation images)...no tangled wires!!

This picture of the Obsession shows the battery holder (bottom left)...which in turn is holding our Campell Hausfield 12v Battery pack/230psi Air compressor. We've used this configuration with the 12V PWM Control Box I made and all our DC accessories (secondary rope, Telrad heater, primary cooling fan, and two homemade dew heaters...one adjustable for all eyepieces...and one that fits the BinoVue). The power supply provides enough power with general 50% power use, for about 35 hours of use. However, with the PWM circuit on its full power setting for those wet nights, it will provide about 18 hours of power. In my opinion, this is more than enough power. However, these are my own observations, and they do not represent any guarantee of performance. Oh yeah, the best part of the configuration is...you can pump up your air mattress, your car's flat tire, and bicycle tires during the day, then observe all night.

Campell Hausfield 12v Battery pack/230psi Air Compressor. (Available @ Wal-Mart $30-40) We've owned one for just over 2 years now, and it still works flawlessly.

This picture shows our truck and new 6x12 trailer. Our trailer not only contains all our telescopes and our accessories, but it was furnished (by Megan and I) with several large cabinets and a desk, complete with computer & entertainment center. Oh yeah, we sleep in it too. This is how a hobby gets really fun!! 6/7/02

Looking inside our trailer. A bunch of bungee cards and a few eyehooks go along way. 6/7/02

Everything we need is in there (Left to right): lawn chairs, cooking table, black UTA "kick-drum" bag, mirror & rocker box (under tarp), swivel chair, truss tubes, and the ladder. Other observing tools loaded up front include: two-burner stove, propane canisters, coolers (filled with food & drink), two 12v power packs (one is also a compressor), 700w DC to AC inverter, multibox electrical panel & extension cords, our eyepiece collection, our 8" F/7 dobsonian telescope, sleeping bags, queen size air mattress, acoustic guitar, radio/tape/CD player, spare tire, our suitcases, tools, extra ropes and bungee cords, toilet paper (should be first on the list, lol) and of course our prototype parallelogram binocular mount and tripod. Soon to be available to the public, debuting at Stellafane 2002. 6/7/02

I insisted upon getting a trailer with a skylight (upper left). This thing is roomy...we're very proud. 6/7/02

Our 1987 Toyota 4x4 truck. Come on baby, last for another couple years. Would you believe, we used to transport all this stuff in this truck under that cap...those were the days, lol. ("Whatever it takes" has always been our motto.) 6/7/02

Plenty of room left for a few extra things and the new black lab puppy "Nova" (she will arrive on 6/11/02). 6/7/02

The above computer is used for AstroImaging. All data is uploaded via LAN to the main "Master" computer for processing.