5" F/5 protype scope for class
This telescope was build using off-the-shelf optics. It's the original
prototype for the scopes that were built in the class I taught in early 2003.
Building this scope was a Christmas present for a friend, and he paid
for the parts. It's quite compact and solid, though viewing planets
at high power can be a bit tricky. Larger altitude bearings would help.
Also, the secondary holder and spider was an experiment, and will probably
be replaced with AstroSystems parts at some point. Overall, it's a
nice compact scope for scanning the skies at lower powers and just seeing
what comes into view. One of these days we'll upgrade some of the hardware
and I might even refigure the mirror.
