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Welcome to my new Web site!
Jim Richberg's New Mostly Astronomy Web Site
I started this web site largely because I have done some amateur telescope making (ATM) projects that a number of folks have expressed interest in getting details on, and this seemed to be the most efficient way to share this information. This is not ATM'ing for "the fashion obsessed" who buy premium scopes and would never dream of modifying them. I am an inveterate tweaker, and since my ethos is form over aesthetics, my work will never be mistaken for "furniture grade". Still, I do think I've come up with a few unique design twists in my various projects that I haven't seen on anyone else's telescope...
Use the search bar at the top of this page if you have a particular topical interest, or navigate through the links that will be located on the left hand side or at the bottom of each page.
Up-to-date link to Latest Developments and Discoveries
Coming soon: first impressions of the Unihedron "Sky Quality Meter". This impulse purchase should help me more systematically evaluate the dark skies of my various observing locales (especially timely with "Almost Heaven Star Party" in that bastion of East Coast dark skies, Spruce Knob West Va, coming up in a few weeks to serve as a 'baseline'). I understand the SQM can also be used an empirical compliment to qualitative seeing/transparency assessments. I can foresee logging SQM values alongside my sketches and narrative in my observing notebook. Stay tuned...
Selected new content:
User friendly mods done by using bits of highly luminescent adhesive material to mark eyepieces, ladder treads, handles, knobs, etc. with 'glow in the dark' indicators that last all night. Highly appreciated by the public at outreach events, and beneficial even for experienced viewers not used to the peculiarities of my setup. One of the best cheap modifications I have made recently-- and you can get the material commercially for under ten bucks!
Local Light Pollution Gone Overboard A bank of rotating searchlights used by a local winebar/restaurant for promotional purposes produced such egregious light trespass as to render observing impossible when the lights were on, even though they are located nearly two miles away! A pretty clear-cut violation of our town zoning ordinances (I checked) and probably a flight safety issue (since they shine onto the landing route to our local airport). Stay tuned as I discover whether this was a introductory promotional event or a longer-lived light blight, and whether my complaints to the zoning commission were heard...
Report from the Winter Star Party 2007 WSP 2007
More modifications to "Brutus" (24" f/4 Dob) -- 'the final (?) saga' Brutus Mods Rd 3
Updates to my customized 16" f/4.5 "Natasha" Natasha Update
My newest telescope acquisition-- the impulse purchase and customization of an Orion ST 120 Orion ST120
Small Refractor "shoot-out" (70mm, 80mm, 120mm; quality vs. size, stock vs. customized) Refractors
Follow the links below to other "high interest" ATM material, including:
Using and modifying my 24" f/4 reflector "Brutus" (It may not be the biggest Dob on the East Coast, but it is probably the largest "grab and go" scope around!) Brutus Main Page
Natasha Main Page My homebuilt 'ultimate' portable Dob, a 16" f/4.5 that has been compared to Zambuto-equipped Starmasters.
Adding the Cak PST to make a shared mount three wavelength solar rig Budget Solar Trio
2005 Mars Observations Copies of my observing report posts to the NOVAC mailing list during this current opposition of Mars. See it now-- your eyes will certainly be worse in 2018, the next time it's this good for North American observers!
Zoom eyepiece solar review "Zoom Eyepiece shootout"--the test parameters and initial results
Thermal Effects -- is the observer's body heat an overlooked drag on the optical performance of truss tube Dobs?
First impressions of Sky & Telescopes "Pocket Sky Atlas" Observing Books Good things can come in small packages!
Second impressions of the Calcium K Personal Solar Telescope (It works better when the scope is not defective!) CaK PST
A simple "no hands" light fixture for use with the "Cat's Eye" and "Autocollimator" tools that increases their ease of use on large Dobs-- and possibly helps collimation accuracy! Collimation tools (go down the page to the only embedded pictures-- about 3/4th of the way down)
Binoviewer mishap-- I find a structural weakness in the Siebert "Black Night" binos the hard way! (binoculars and binoviewers, in red, towards the bottom of the page)
Living with the impulse purchase of a Televue "Ranger" refractor Televue
Me on the 30" f/5 Tectron Dob at "New Mexico Skies" in January 2005 (photo by Tom Kennedy. An edited version of this picture ran on p. 102 atop the "Event Calendar" in the October 2005 issue of Sky and Telescope)
Tell me what you think about my web site. I welcome all of your comments and suggestions via email to JRichberg@NOSPAMBigfoot.com (remove the letters NOSPAM to make the email address valid).
Over 2000 people have viewed this web site, some have even commended it in email threads on astronomy mailing lists-- but only THREE people have ever sent me any feedback. Come on, let me know what you like or don't like here! All of the images on this site have been compressed to one degree or another. If you'd like to see a higher resolution version of anything, just contact me via email.
(All images on this web site copyrighted by Jim Richberg, unless otherwise credited.)
