Unfortunately for solar observers at NEAF, the weather was uncooperative yesterday – mostly cloudy and cool with some fog. However, the weather was much better today and the NEAF Solar Star Party was able to proceed. Sure there were a few clouds here and there but everyone had fun, anyway. (Please remember – you can click on any image to see a larger version.)
I promised you some views of large telescopes today so here we go. This is Orion's new 36″ Dob. This is definitely a big telescope.
Here's an even bigger scope. This is a 40″ f/3.6 Dob from Great Red Spot Astronomy Products. According to the literature I received at the booth, the weight fully assembled is 500 lbs.
I supposed big dobsonians will always win the size contests, but this 24″ Corrected Dall-Kirkham Astrograph from PlaneWave Instruments is still pretty big. It's mounted on a Mathis Instruments MI-1250 mount.
Another large scope is the Starizona f/8 12.5″ Hyperion telescope.
Well, I'm sorry to say that NEAF 2010 is over. However, I am not done with blog posts on this great event. In the next 2 or 3 days, I will be posting an interview I did with Alan Traino who is the person in charge of the Northeast Astronomy Forum and Telescope Show. He was kind enough to spend some of his valuable time with me during the show and I will post that interview as soon as I get back to San Diego and get it transcribed.