"Chuck Taylor" wrote:

The main targets are the school but its huge (by English standards)
2000+ students 11-18. The 16+s should be able to do serious work as
astrophysics is on the curriculum.

Nice to have a school with that curriculum!

Only a handful take it. Last year in England 545,000 15/16 year olds
were in school and took public exams. 458 of them took an astronomy
exam. Pitiful

So some serious aperture would be nice. I live on the west (US) coast near
Puget Sound (Washington) and rarely see a night without dew. Half the time I
feel like I'm swimming out there. So part of your budget needs to include
dew heaters etc. Have you seen the Dewbuster? It's at
http://www.gbronline.com/ronkeating/default.htm along with a review by Rod.
It looks like it would be perfect for nights when the scope operator has his
or her hands full and needs automatic dew heating.

Thanks

Nice! Will you be able to use a school classroom during a night session?

Yes - and the coffee machine

Your idea of an SCT would go well with a smaller dome. You could build it
with a room beneath and add an extension to the room later. Maybe stage one
is build the dome. Stage two is add an additional room with a temporary roof
and stage three is to put a slide off roof on that section for scopes
acquired later?

Must investigate the problems of isolating the scope pier from
activity in the building - or is this a counsel of perfection.

I had to go and covert. I came up with 10k pounds = $17,233 US. That's still
a good start. The dome makes sense from the school's viewpoint and it would
be a constant advertisement to attract interest.

You converted uk pounds into dollars - no need. The astro market is
smaller in the uk and Meade and Celestron have it well stitched up. by
the time it reaches market a scope can well cost more in pounds than
you pay in dollars. It is a constant source of anguish and brits come
back from trips to the states with refractors stuffed down their
trouser legs, their pockets full of eps.

Something like this: http://www.astromart.com/viewad.asp?cid=228421 ? That
might leave you short for the rest of the stuff, but if the clubs could
build the dome etc...

See what I mean - stripped down (new) 16 inch scts cost uk pounds
17,000 - 14 inch is 5,000, the max we are likely to achieve.

If you do go after a 16" SCT, Sol Robbins on the Chinese Refractor list
spent quite a lot of time setting up two or three of them. I believe it was
for a university. He's usually very helpful.

I think always is a better word for Sol's helpfulness.

It's a shame the solar max is past. Have you thought of a Ha system with
video camera?

It may be past max but very lively - and some. Video camera is high on
the list - provide some feed to PCs to give those waiting for ep time
something to look at. The Coronado PST is launching at just the right
time - a low price H-a in a rugged looking unit with very little
fragile stuff sticking out of it. Got to get something together for
the transit in June. I'm thinking 2,000 sets of eclipse glasses for
children to catch some real photons and a camera plus video feed for
live coverage throughtout the school.

I've been watching the sun a little lately (Baader filter) and dropped in to
lurk and pick up some pointers. And as you said, it's a lot warmer during
the day :-)

My wife has been drawing the Sun through my 125/1000 refractor and
Baader for a couple of years - the collection is such a pleasure to
look through on rainy days and nights. There something about eyepiece
drawing that can't be beaten.

Many thanks for your advice - anything that occurs - please let me
know (on or off group: snip the snip to reach me).

-----------------------------
Martin Frey
http://www.hadastro.org.uk
N 51 01 52.2 E 0 47 21.1
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