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Arie Otte
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8 inch
And for the 'little ones'.....I built two 8 inch telescopes.
First I built an 8 inch f/8.0, again around a very good Orion Optics mirror.
This telescope gives very nice images of the moon and planets.
And my son appeared to be happy with it.....
 
The long focal length requires that the bottom of the telescope must be pretty heavy for balancing.
In the end this telescope evolved towards an easier one.
Using large wheels for a high balance point and a 3 kg weight underneath solves the weight/balance problem.
Since also this telescope is made from three large parts, it is easy to assemble/ disassemble
(left on the picture below).
Next I made another 8 inch telescope, this time around a f/6.0 mirror, made by Jan van Gastel
(Jan van Gastel's ATM pages).
This one telescope easier to handle since the bottom doesn't require so much weight (right on the picture).
Also this mirror is excellent (a Strehl ratio of 0.956)(click here for an optical report).
On both telescope I made large, 'anolog setting circles'
(click here for a detail).
An astronomical programme that delivers real time coordinates of deepsky objects
is required to be able to work with them.
But with the aid of this, the setting circles are accurate enough
to find for instance a number of brighter Messier objects with ease.
click for larger picture
The f/8.0 telescope is stationed at home in the Netherlands, the f/6.0 resides in France.
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