My Homemade 12.5 inch Dobsonian Telescope—FIRST LIGHT
July 25, 2008
RocheStar Fest
At some point in the building process, my goal became to finish the scope by RocheStar Fest, an annual event of the Rochester Astronomy Club. I was still doing some construction on the morning of the event, but I succeeded in making first light on that clear, dark night in late July. As I set of the scope, several club members came over to check things out and it was nice to hear the positive comments on the appearance of the scope. When the skies were dark enough for observing I found that the scope moves easily into position and holds that position well. That evening I spent most of my time rediscovering the many DSOs around Sagittarius, especially the Lagoon Nebula and the Trifid Nebula. My daughter, who came with me to the event, even won an Astroscan telescope of her own as a door prize so that we can now take both of our scopes out together. On my 6 inch scope I have viewed almost all of the Messier objects over the past three years, but I will have a lot of fun going back to them with my homemade 12.5!!
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