Many thanks for the hospitality of the Hamilton RASC on Thursday evening. Bryan Delodder presented the story of "The Accidental Telescope Factory." He talked about the origins of the 3D printed telescopes he has designed and offers as freely downloadable files. These files can be used by anyone to build a powerful telescope using a 3D printer. Bryan then did an animated fly-through of how the telescopes are built.
Bryan and Vasu unveiled two new variations of the Skyward 150. The first version, the Skyward 150 Compact, allows the design to be downloaded for free and printed on smaller printers without sacrificing performance. This makes it much more accessible to schools and individuals that wish to print the parts on mainstream/affordable printers.
The second version of the Skyward unveiled at the meeting is the new Astrophotography version. It utilizes a more robust focuser which is designed to handle a significant camera payload including electronic focuser, coma corrector, electronic filter wheel, dew heater, as well as features that allow it to be mounted using a dovetail to any standard equatorial mount.
The image of the Heart of the Rosette Nebula below was captured and processed by Vasu Maini using a 3D printed Skyward 150. He will make a detailed blog post in the coming days to detail his experience. The summary of his exposures is:
1 hour 30 minutes on Ha
1 hour 35 minutes on Oiii
25 minutes on Sii
15 minutes for RGB stars
Many thanks for an excellent evening to our friends in Hamilton!
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