Dragging out the 13" Dob.

Well - the subject of this blog is "Telescope Fun" and that pretty well describes what I am enbarking on here. I have a Coulter Optics 13.1-inch (33.27 cm) diameter Odyssey 1 Dobsonian Reflecting Telescope I had purchased in 1986. Coulter Optical no longer produces this telescope nor the primary mirror - the largest they have listed on their website (http://www.e-scopes.cc/) is a 12-inch primary mirror and secondary for around $600.00 (just the mirrors) I purchased the 'scope to view different objects in space along with watching the comet fragments collide with Jupiter in 1994 (and it could be seen through this 'scope as it was big enough to catch the action!). These telescopes were the largest you could purchase for a very inexpensive price (I paid around $700 for mine) and still have some excellent views of the night sky. Given the size of the telescope it is no wonder they are called "light-buckets".

Here is an image of what the telescope looks like - some people actually thought I had a cannon in my garage! (grin).

The telescope was stored away for some years due to infrequent use and the need for the space within the garage for other projects. It was "weatherized" and stored away in an outside shed (metal shed on raised floor) but in Florida that is not saying all that much! Sometimes the temperatures within the shed would reach over 120-deg. F or as cold as around freezing (depending on the time of year of course) and since Florida in not known for low humidity you can guess what that could be like!

All in all the telescope faired out pretty well give the environment it was stored in. The optics (primary and secondary mirrors) were covered in a layer of dust, bugs and only God knows what else so a good cleaning was in order to determine the actual shape of the mirror. Luckily I had stored all of the primary objective eye-pieces inside my air conditioned home so they faired a great deal better than the telescope (hind-sight being what it is I should have stored the whole telescope inside, dumb me!).

My next entry will be on the disassymbly and cleaning of the telescope optics - stay tuned!