8 replies to this topic

[RalphMeisterTigerMan]

I've always loved refractors and especially large refractors. I have been feeling rather nostalgic lately and have been trying to find pics of private observatories with large, permanently mounted refractors and have only found a few. So, if you have a large refractor "under a dome", achromat or Apo I would love to see pics of your observatory.

 

So all you with a Clark, Fecker, Brashear, Cooke, Fitz, Saegmuller, Bardou, Zeiss, R.E. Brandt, APM-LZOS, Istar, Roland Christen, Telescope Engineering Company, Warner and Swasey (I'm not sure if they only built telescope mounts and domes), T.M.B., D and G, and any others that I may have missed. Please post pics of your "telescope under the Dome".

 

Thanking you in advance.

 

Clear skies and keep looking up!

RalphMeisterTigerMan

Edited by RalphMeisterTigerMan, 24 May 2024 - 10:27 AM.

[Lensman]

Well, if confined to a radius of about 50' counts as "permanent", here is my 8"F14 refractor on a Schaefer AT10 mount. That rig weighed about 500 pounds and was a bit of a beast to get in and out of the garage. There's a story on the lens, I might tell it later. In any case the lens is excellent with a wavefront of 0.026 rms (Strehl 0.97). I've since made a folded configuration on a Schaefer AT6 mount, works just as well and is much easier to roll out.

 

 

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[RalphMeisterTigerMan]

Aw c'mon. There's got to be more. Perhaps this should be in the "Refractor" forum?

 

Clear skies and keep looking up!

RalphMeisterTigerMan

[drprovi57]

Here is a CFF200 f6.5 APO along with TMB90ss, a Lunt 80 solar scope, and yes, a RASA 11 - located inside a 12.5 Ash Dome 

 

 

 

 

[Serenity Now]

Not a dome but a roll-off backyard observatory (I'm retired now) I recently re-activated for building upgrades/repairs, the mount serviced at Astro-Physics, the objective lens (hopefully) professionally cleaned. It houses an 8" f/12 D&G refractor on a 1st generation (metric; Serial #4) AP 1200 w/Parallax pier. My previous telescope until 2009 was D&G 6" f/15 on an Epoch Instruments Parsec-12 mount.

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Edited by Serenity Now, 29 May 2024 - 12:04 PM.

[MJB87]

Aw c'mon. There's got to be more. Perhaps this should be in the "Refractor" forum?

 

Clear skies and keep looking up!

RalphMeisterTigerMan

Define "especially large."

 

My biggest refractor is "only" 160mm so I doubt it counts. That is why I have not posted.

[Serenity Now]

Define "especially large."

 

My biggest refractor is "only" 160mm so I doubt it counts. That is why I have not posted.

My interpretation of "especially large" would be refractors that are not easily portable...or at least a real hassle and might best be suited for a permanent housing or placement.

 

As much as I also love the history, nostalgia and romanticism, I wouldn't get too hung up by the "under a dome" necessarily either. Whether temporary or permanent housing, professional and amateur astronomers alike have that make-due attitude that drives their passion to keep the heartbeat of their scopes alive and to get out under the stars somehow, some way. An Alvan Clark 8"+ refractor donated to the Cincinnati Astronomical Society in the late 19th and early 20th century was housed in a number of makeshift observatories over the years until a final and permanent "domed" solution was funded.

 

That Cincinnati Clark roll-off solution served them well...and me for my 6" and 8" classic refractors.

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Edited by Serenity Now, 30 May 2024 - 07:38 AM.

[Rdug1]

Recently was gifted this wonderful Thomas Cooke 8.25" telescope made in 1858. Hoping to design an observatory to have it install in the pasture of my hillside farm in Vermont. Here is the same telescope  Fry telescope in London at the Central University observatory. Mine also has been fully restored and is in seven crates waiting for me to build the observatory. Hope to post it in place in a year.

 

[MJB87]