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Sirius Astronomical Observatory Gleaning Pages

WEBHUB LAST UPDATED: May 22, 2012

G. Barabino's VAO Gleaning Pages

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SurpluShed has 6" f/10 Jaegers Objective "Seconds" in stock. Click on the logo above save on these lenses !!!


 

"In Loving Memory of a Loving Wife, Mother and Best Friend"

 

 THE JAEGERS 6" f/10

"GELINDA J. DAWSON  REFRACTOR"

CONSTRUCTION IS UNDERWAY

As many of you know, I recently lost my beloved wife Gelinda back on September 29th, 2010. Her untimely passing has truly devastated family and friends, and most of all me. I truly miss her dearly. In dedication to her support and understanding; let alone her unwavering love and devotion, I will be constructing the VSC/ SAO Jaegers 6" f/10 "Gelinda J. Dawson" Refractor in her honor. I love and miss her so very much...

With the aim of making this telescope my finest to date, I have commissioned Eric Moerman of Belgium to once again provide his metal fabricating skills in the construction of the collimation objective cell and focuser backplate. As some of you may recall, Eric also fabricated the clock drive for the VSC/ SAO Coulter 10" f/5.6 Gary Barabino Fork Mounted Newtonian. His eye for precision and attention to detail are well know by those who have seen and purchased his astronomical wares.

When I told Eric about my desire to build a telescope in my wife's honor, he offered his support to help me minimize the cost of this project. Unfortunately, when I devised my initial design diagrams to send to Eric, my measurements were off by approximately .5mm. Drats! This meant that I had send them back for Eric to have them resized. I truly felt awful. Nevertheless, Eric was quite gracious and resized the parts and had them back in my greedy hands in no time! Thank You , Eric!!!

Below are photos of the components ready for finishing. As much as I would love to have these beautifully crafted parts anodized, I am going with a less expensive method; hammered finish paint on the outside visible surfaces, and ultra-flat black paint on the light train surfaces. Despite going with the cheaper approach, I believe the components are still going to look great. Before I finish the parts, please check out the images of the unfinished components below.

 
Completed Jaegers GJD 6" f/10 Lens Cell Components - Front View

The collimation lens cell components as they look from the front.

 

Completed Jaegers GJD 6" f/10 Lens Cell Components - Rear View

The collimation lens cell components as they look from the rear.

 

Completed Jaegers GJD 6" f/10 Focuser Backplate Components - Front View

The collimation focuser backplate components as they look from the front.

 

Completed Jaegers GJD 6" f/10 Focuser Backplate Components - Rear View

The collimation focuser backplate components as they look from the rear.

 

...and the beat rolls on with the cutting and test fit of the Dew Shield for the VSC/SAC Jaegers 'Gelinda J. Dawson' 6" f/10 Refractor. The dew shield is  8" in diameter and 12.5" long. The wall thickness is .083". I also mated the dew shield and transition piece to the 7" outside diameter main tube to get a preliminary look at how the scope will look at the objective end. Check out the photos below.

Completed Jaegers GJD 6" f/10 Dew Shield cut to length and test fitted onto the Lens Cell Transition Ring - Front View

The Dew Shield with the transition piece viewed from the front.

 

Completed Jaegers GJD 6" f/10 Dew Shield cut to length and test fitted onto the Lens Cell Transition Ring - Rear View

The Dew Shield with the transition piece viewed from the rear.

 

Preliminary look at the objective end of the GJD 6" f/10 refractor - rear. Click to see enlarged view.

The Dew Shield transition piece and main tube test fit as viewed from the rear.

 

Preliminary look at the objective end of the GJD 6" f/10 refractor - front. Click to see enlarged view.

The Dew Shield transition piece and main tube test fit as viewed from the front.

 

In addition to Eric, I also utilized the great machining skills of Joe Kane to make a custom D-mount dovetail plate for the project. Some of you may know Joe from his eBay ad selling his finely crafted dovetail plates for Vixen and Losmandy EQ mounts. The dovetail plate was powder coated by Joe in the traditional "Vega Blue" to match the color of the tube once it is finished. I provided a couple of images of it below; top and bottom. Looks great! It is going to look sweet atop the Losmandy G-11!

Also, below check out the 'before and after' photos of the Cradle Rings sitting atop the dovetail plate. Each ring required a special adapter plate for attachment them to the plate. Initially, I was going to make the cradle rings myself, but I purchased this pair via eBay. Theyt were once used on an Optica B/C  6" Newtonian reflector. When I received them, they were truly showing their age. So, I sent them to Joe Kane for stripping and powder coating in black. Joe said he had a heck of a time sand blasting these rings cleans. But the end result turned out beautiful! I could not be more pleased. Thanks Joe!

 
Top of Dovetail Plate - made by Joe Kane

Top view of the Dovetail Plate.

 

Bottom of Dovetail Plate - made by Joe Kane

Bottom view of the Dovetail Plate.

 

The Dovetail Plate with unfinished Cradle Rings and adapters.

Aged and Weathered Cradle Rings with adapters and Dovetail Plate..

 

The Dovetail Plate with newly powder coated Cradle Rings and adapters.

Powder Coated Cradle Rings with adapters and Dovetail Plate..

 

*** UPDATE --- 05/18/2012 ***

I have completed flocking with flat black spray enamel to specific internal light path areas of the collimation lens cell and focuser backplate components as seen in the photo below. Once the flat black paint has cured and out-gassed completely, I will remove the tape from the areas I did not want flocked. Tape will then be added to the flocked areas to protect them and to sections I do not want any paint on. Next, hammered finish paint will be applied to the areas with not tape.

 
Flocked, curing, and outgassing of the Lens Cell and Focuser Backplate components. Click for enlarged view!

Left to Right: Crayford Focuser Support Collimation Ring, Focuser Backplate, Len Cell Support Transition Ring, Lens Retainer Ring, and Objective/ Lens Cell.

As with all of my projects, I hope it will kindle the interest of other amateurs to take on the rewards of building their own telescopic instruments.

Please stay tune, there's more to come!!!

Questions? Email us at: vsc-astronomers@vega-sky-center.com

 

 

 

"Daily Solar Imaging of the Sun conducted at the VSC-2"

A small sequence sample of some of the solar images I captured with my Scopos 80mm f/6 APO and Olympus E-500 combination.

 

Daily observations of the sun at the VSC are being performed and being posted under the VSC Observations page. The observation is called "Sequential Solar Observations 11-07-2011". It hosts a chronological collection of solar images as captured with my 80mm f/6 Scopos Apo/ Olympus Evolt E-500 team-up. It was my initial intent to do a short sequence (perhaps 10 sequential images) and then to post the observation, but my efforts have gone somewhat awry. I now have a collection of over 100 images (one a day) within the collection! I will continue getting more images to add to this sequential solar observation page. So, please check the observation on a regular basis for updates.

 

 

 

The VSC/ VAO Jaegers 4" f/8.6 Refractor Project by G. Barabino is Complete !!!

 

The VSC/ VAO Jaegers 4" f/8.6 "Versa-Ped" Mounted Refractor was completed on 12/01/2010 and First Light conducted on the same day.  You can check my notes on Cloudy Nights under the The 4" A Jaegers Hybrid Fork Mount Refractor Build  thread. My CN user name is BarabinoSr. The link is below:

Jaegers 4" f/8.6 thread on Cloudy Nights

 

The VSC/ SAO Carton 100mm f/13 "Mary Dawson" Refractor Project is Complete !!!

Web pages covering its construction are coming in due time !!!

 

The VSC/ SAO Carton 100mm f/13 "Mary Dawson" Refractor was completed on 07/06/2010 and First Light conducted on 07/10/2010! This instrument is named after my mother, the rock of my life. The scope utilizes an unused 1980s vintage cell mounted Carton 100mm f/13 achromatic Fraunhofer doublet, that is said to be the finest objective Carton Optical Company ever produced. And I must say, that all of the hoopla about this instrument held true! To check out the construction process before it is posted on the VSC website and the First Light report, you can check my notes on Cloudy Nights under the Carton 100mm f/13 thread. My CN user name is dawsonian2000. The link is below:

Carton 100mm f/13 thread on Cloudy Nights

The top row of images shows the mounted objective I purchased from Sheldon Faworski. The lower set shows the rear section of the collimation cell as milled by Brian Choin.

The VSC/ SAO 127mm f/9.4 "Brigadier General Richard Pierce" Refractor is Complete !!!

All pages are complete and currently available !!!

Click the button below to go there NOW !!!

 

                    

 

The VSC/ SAO "BGRP" refractor was built using a SurpluShed 127mm f/9.4 achromatic objective. Please check out the modification report on how I improved the performance of this lens on the Vega News!!! web page.

 

 

Taken on the night of February 20, 2010, here is a true color shot of the central terminator of the near First Quarter moon as captured through the 127mm f/9.4 "BGRP" refractor. In conjunction with the telescope, I used my Olympus Evolt E-500 DSLR teamed with a 15mm TeleVue Plossl loaded in a universal camera adapter. The exposure was taken at ISO 400 for 1/10th of a second. You can make out a plethora of familiar features like, Theophilus, Cyrillus, Catherina, and Albategnius Also, Mare Nectaris is seen to the upper left of center in this image. © imaged by Mel Dawson

 


OUR  BEGINNINGS

Hello Fellow Stargazers, and Welcome to the Astronomical WebHub of the Vega Sky Center. We are now into our 11th year in existence on the web! We are amateur astronomers with small private observatories residing in Slidell, LA (formerly in New Orleans, LA), and Riverview, FL. My name is Mel Dawson, and I begun my association with Astronomy back in July 1970 when I experienced my first telescopic view of the moon through a Selsi 60mm variable powered refractor, owned by Gary Barabino, a new comer to the neighborhood. Needless to say, that first look pulled me in like the gravitational affect of a black hole. I became an understudy to Gary, and we continued to observe many celestial objects. On August 16th of that year, it was a Partial Lunar Eclipse that inspired us to start recording observations of celestial objects, and started the rise of the Vega Astronomical Observatory, later transcending into the Vega Sky Center in 1975. Gary Barabino runs the Vega Astronomical Observatory, as well as being the founder of the VSC. My location is called the Sirius Astronomical Observatory, here in Riverview FL.

Our humble beginnings inspired us to help other budding as well as seasoned amateurs. With assistance from Gary, and our honorary members, we plan to cover many aspects of our astronomical experiences with the goal in mind to be a premiere resource to the astronomical community.  We truly hope the information contained within these web pages will be of  help to all of our visitors. Via the resources within, you will find photos and design diagrams of our telescope projects completed and under construction!... Links to some of the most sought-after and hard to find items, plus information from a myriad of suppliers, as well as various FREE Astronomy Software downloads!... Real-time astronomical data, and video links!... Links to Star Atlas's and Monthly Sky Charts... and much, much more... with new additions constantly being added on a regular basis!... We even created and made available a downloadable Observation Data Sheet - one us and one for you, our friends! Also, check out the latest news about Astronomical and Space headlines, courtesy of ASTROWIRE™. As the VSC's WebHub grows, additional sections and pages will be created to share projects, ideas, and knowledge to help amateurs in many aspects of ATM, observational, and photographic astronomy.

We truly hope everyone enjoys this fascinating adventure as we embark on a new era of the VSC... So, please let us know you were here, or send your comments and/ or suggestions by emailing us at the address below. Your input is always welcome and valuable to us.

vsc-astronomers@vega-sky-center.com


  

TRIBUTE TO A GREAT ASTRONOMICAL MAGAZINE

  • To show our appreciation to Gary Parkerson and the new astronomical magazine, "Astronomy Technology Today" for showcasing Mel Dawson's 10" f/5.6 Fork Mounted Newtonian reflector in the debut April, 2007, and his North Star Field Tripod prototype in the March/ April 2009 issues, we have created a special tribute page in their honor showcasing the covers of every issue from the beginning. Please click on the "ATT Webpages" button below to pay the ATT tribute page a visit.

Latest issue of Astronomy Technology Today -- January - February 2012 !!!

 

The VSC's Tribute Webpage to Astronomy Technology Today

Projects Constructed by the Vega Sky Center featured in ATT Magazine !!!

 

   Click this image to read Mel Dawson's ATT article "Fulfilling A Boyhood Dream"                    Click this image to read Mel Dawson's ATT article "The North Star Field Tripod"

 
The Vega Sky Center had the great privilege of writing a couple of articles for Astronomy Technology Today magazine covering the build of two great projects. The first, an overview of the construction of my 10" f/5.6 Newtonian Fork Mounted Reflector and the second, an article on the building of the prototype North Star field tripod for Gary Barabino of the VSC/ VAO, predecessor to the North Star II field tripod used regularly at the VSC/ SAO.

So, please click on the images above to read these articles featured in two separate issues of Astronomy Technology Today.

As always... if you have questions, concerns, or have suggestions, please email us at:

vsc-astronomers@vega-sky-center.com


THE VEGA SKY CENTER'S ASTRONOMICAL RESOURCE LINKS

By way of the Drop Down menus below, you will find a grand collection of websites to some of our favorite magazines, maps, monthly astronomical periodicals, FREE software downloads, audio/ video sites and many links to suppliers and manufacturers of astronomical equipment, etc. We hope amateurs, young and old will find these sites useful within their astronomical endeavors, We did! This list is certain to increase in size over time. So please check back periodically for new additions.

 

     
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
   
   
    
    
    
    
    

     


SEARCH THE VSC  WEBHUB OR THE  WEB !!!

 

 

 

THE WEB

THE VEGA SKY CENTER

  To help in locating specific information on our WebHub, we have added the search box above for your convenience.


OBSERVER’S  DATA  SHEETS

Click to view and download a copy of the "VSC - Our Observer's Data Sheet"                                                          Click to view and download a copy of the "VSC - Your Observer's Data Sheet"

One for Us in PDF Format!                                             One for You in PDF Format!

Click to view and download a copy of the "VSC - Our Observer's Data Sheet"                                                           Click to view and download a copy of the "VSC - Your Observer's Data Sheet"

One for Us in editable MS Word Format!                     One for You in editable MS Word  Format!

 

To document those awesome celestial wonders observed through our telescopic instruments, the Vega Sky Center has created two well thought out observation recording forms we call the "Observer's Data Sheet". One with the VSC logo for our use, and one without for your personal use. In developing these forms, we carefully considered all the tidbits of information the average amateur would like to record during an average observing session. Each of the forms above is comprised of two pages, which can be printed to two separate sheets, or on a single sheet if you use the 2-sided option for your given printer. The front page contains all of the pertinent data - time, date, telescopic & photographic information, object information, etc. The second page is used for sketching your object of choice, or for a photograph. We hope that you will find the form helpful in recording those splendid telescopic observing sessions. Both Observer's Data Sheets are in PDF and MS WORD formats and can be downloaded by clicking on the images above. All you need is Adobe AcroReader, and/ or Microsoft Office applications to open it.

"Download a copy today, so you can start a wealth of observing memories!!!"

 


CURRENT US TIME ZONES, SOLAR IMAGES,  AND LUNAR PHASE

PACIFIC
MOUNTAIN
CENTRAL
EASTERN

 

CURRENT SOLAR IMAGES FROM SOHO

SOHO Solar Image via EIT at 195 Angstroms - (Click for enlarged view)                      SOHO Solar Image in Visible Light - (Click for enlarged view)                      SOHO Solar Image via EIT at 304 Angstroms - (Click for enlarged view)

 

Click on any of the solar images above for an enlarged view!

 

CURRENT MOON


CURRENT U.S. WEATHER RADAR

AND

CLEAR SKY CLOCK FOR VSC LOCALES AND THE FARROUT OBSERVING SITE

 

 

Latest U.S. Weather Radar Map from AccuWeather.com

 

Clear Sky Clock for Mel Dawson's Private Observatory             Clear Sky Clock for Dennis Farr's FarrOut Private Observatory             Clear Sky Clock for Gary Barabino's Private Observatory

    Brandon, FL                                             FarrOut Observatory                                                 Slidell, LA


  The Vega Sky Center Astronomical WebHub -- Established 2000

© All Rights Reserved.
To contact the VSC, or the webmaster directly with questions, comments, or inquiries, please email us at:

 vsc-astronomers@vega-sky-center.com

 

 

 


 

For sweet deals on high quality Jaegers telescope objectives and other unique optical components,

Please click on the SurpluShed logo below. You'll be glad you did!

 


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