Dob with tracking?

Hey all,

I'm looking to get back into the hobby after several years. I've never owned
a Dob but I am curious about something in the 12 range with tracking. Do any
of the dob manufacturers offer good tracking systems?

Thanks
Brian

B A wrote:
Hey all,

I'm looking to get back into the hobby after several years. I've never owned
a Dob but I am curious about something in the 12 range with tracking. Do any
of the dob manufacturers offer good tracking systems?

http://www.obsessiontelescopes.com/t...pes/index.html

with these:

http://www.obsessiontelescopes.com/a...ies/index.html

Not a modest set up, but suits the description ;-)


Shawn

"B A" wrote in message
. ..
Hey all,

I'm looking to get back into the hobby after several years. I've never
owned a Dob but I am curious about something in the 12 range with
tracking. Do any of the dob manufacturers offer good tracking systems?

Thanks
Brian


Orion XT-12 Intelliscope.

Now -- wait a minute -- this is not a TRACKING system in the sense that it
has motors that drive the scope along, matching to rotation of the earth.

The Intelliscope is a "push-to" system. You set up the scope; align the
scope with the Intelliscope handheld controller; tell the controller what
you want to see; the controller then tells you to push the scope
up-down-right-left to find the object.

Tracking is up to you to continue to push the scope along as the Earth
rotates.

On Sat, 14 Apr 2007 14:01:03 -0400, "B A" wrote:

I'm looking to get back into the hobby after several years. I've never owned
a Dob but I am curious about something in the 12 range with tracking. Do any
of the dob manufacturers offer good tracking systems?

Why do you want tracking? IMO, a scope with tracking can't be a Dob. The
main reason you want a Dob is because it gives you a lot of value for a
visual scope. The main reason you want tracking is for imaging, or
sometimes for visual work at very high magnification. You don't want a
tracking Dob for imaging, since the altaz configuration won't work well.
If you just want to keep the scope on the target for a while without
having to re-aim, you might consider an equatorial platform. If your
concern is finding objects, you could use a pointing computer on any
ordinary Dob.

For what a true tracking Dob will cost you (Obsession, Starmaster), I
think you'd be better off with a nice SCT.

_________________________________________________

Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com

Chris L Peterson wrote:
On Sat, 14 Apr 2007 14:01:03 -0400, "B A" wrote:

I'm looking to get back into the hobby after several years. I've never owned
a Dob but I am curious about something in the 12 range with tracking. Do any
of the dob manufacturers offer good tracking systems?

Why do you want tracking? IMO, a scope with tracking can't be a Dob. The
main reason you want a Dob is because it gives you a lot of value for a
visual scope. The main reason you want tracking is for imaging, or
sometimes for visual work at very high magnification. You don't want a
tracking Dob for imaging, since the altaz configuration won't work well.
If you just want to keep the scope on the target for a while without
having to re-aim, you might consider an equatorial platform. If your
concern is finding objects, you could use a pointing computer on any
ordinary Dob.

For what a true tracking Dob will cost you (Obsession, Starmaster), I
think you'd be better off with a nice SCT.

Better yet, a bigger dob. :-)
Considering what something like Argo Navis and ServoCat cost, this can
be *a lot* bigger dob. For an Obsession, that's stepping up from a
12.5" to an 18".
Another thing to consider, regardless of the price point your shooting
for, is the kind of skies you'll be observing under. Dark skies make
for easy star hopping. Get a Telrad (a kind of zero magnification
finder) and have fun. Suburban, or worse urban, skies are much more
challenging and IMO warrant a "push to" system if you want to avoid the
frustration of learning to drive in the fog.


Shawn

A few of the truss dob makers offer servo-cat as an extra on there line and
that will give you full go to. Also there are a few different goto or
tracking system that you can fit to a Dob

See
http://www.siderealtechnology.com/
http://www.stellarcat.biz/
http://www.gototelescopes.com/
http://homepages.accnorwalk.com/tddi/tech2000/

and there is still more

Phil

"B A" wrote in message
. ..
Hey all,

I'm looking to get back into the hobby after several years. I've never
owned a Dob but I am curious about something in the 12 range with
tracking. Do any of the dob manufacturers offer good tracking systems?

Thanks
Brian

On Apr 14, 2:01 pm, "B A" wrote:
Hey all,

I'm looking to get back into the hobby after several years. I've never owned
a Dob but I am curious about something in the 12 range with tracking. Do any
of the dob manufacturers offer good tracking systems?

Thanks
Brian


The Crawford-Dobsonian has some limitations, but at least it's cheap:

http://home.freeuk.com/m.gavin/crawford.htm

I will probably try this with a small, alt-az solar refractor.

On Apr 14, 4:22 pm, Chris L Peterson wrote:


Why do you want tracking? IMO, a scope with tracking can't be a Dob. The
main reason you want a Dob is because it gives you a lot of value for a
visual scope. The main reason you want tracking is for imaging, or
sometimes for visual work at very high magnification. Y

_________________________________________________

Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatoryhttp://www.cloudbait.com

Not true at all particularly with high power. Mel Bartles claims
adding tracking to a dob is like adding 40% to the mirror size in
terms of keeping the object centered in the "sweet spot". Chasing this
by hand is a "never catch-up" proposition. It makes a big difference
and doesn't have to be reset every hour or so like a platform.

Try one some time. Say a 25" Obsession with a ServCat. No SCT is even
in the same class--at any price point under $100,000.

wrote in message On Apr 14, 4:22 pm, Chris L Peterson
wrote:
[snip]

Not true at all particularly with high power. Mel Bartles claims
adding tracking to a dob is like adding 40% to the mirror size in
terms of keeping the object centered in the "sweet spot". Chasing this
by hand is a "never catch-up" proposition. It makes a big difference
and doesn't have to be reset every hour or so like a platform.

Try one some time. Say a 25" Obsession with a ServCat. No SCT is even
in the same class--at any price point under $100,000.

How exactly does tracking with a dob work? The mounting seems to be altaz, so
wouldn't one need two servos running simultaneously in two different
directions?

Thanks,
--
I.N. Galidakis --- http://ioannis.virtualcomposer2000.com/

How exactly does tracking with a dob work? The mounting seems to be altaz,
so
wouldn't one need two servos running simultaneously in two different
directions?

For a discussion of tracking with a dob, look at:

http://www.bbastrodesigns.com/why.html

Dennis