First Light.

Feb 18. I don't know how many trips up and down the stairs to the basement shop I made. 15? 20? There were trips to cobble up and tweak the mirror carrier. Then more to get it attached to the aft frame using oak plywood instead of aluminum. Then who knows how many trips to mate a Losmandy D-plate to one side of the truss. Nevermind that I've had this sketched for a month; putting the screws where they need to be is different (but possible, thank you Q. D. Greene). Then I made several more trips to face, mill, and install a tube to hold the Feathertouch focuser. Etc. Etc. It's called Team Sisyphus for a reason.

Shortly after sunset, I clamped the tube on the G11, stuffed a 35mm Panoptic and the Feathertouch focusser into the eyepiece reciever, extended everything just as far out as it would go and . . . we have stars. An anonymous field in Auriga in a deep blue sky.

Not bad. But will it focus for a camera? No. Same problem as with the stock instrument: at minimum height, the Canon is just too far from the mirror. The difference is that this time dimensions can be tweaked to taste.

I shot Capella at full extension, then at minimum. By measuring the two defocussed images (positions are 0.8 inches apart), I ought to be able to tell exactly how much inward travel is needed. I removed the FT adapter and inserted the camera directly into the 2-inch receiver built into the side of the telescope. With the A-P adapter pulled about 3/4 inch out, the Canon reached focus. It's impossible to critically or repeatedly focus like this, but at least we know pretty well where the camera needs to end up.

Capella, 3 seconds. Bad ghosts tonight.

Tomorrow, I'll work out some means of managing the focus problem. I can make changes to the focuser mount. Use a low-profile Novak focuser. Or I could move the mirror forward. I'll probably space it forward first using scrap metal or oak, and when I know exactly how far to move it, shorten the mirror-side truss bars. I've got a bid in for tubing to make extensions of arbitrary length for approximately parfocal visual adapters.

Judging from the counterweight positions, the 10-inch really is much lighter than the A-P when the A-P is in full photographic regalia. (The scale said so, but it's nice to see the mount confirm this.)

I hopped around in the darkening sky. The Orion nebula through bare winter trees, then the Pleiades. Not bad at all, especially considering the dreadful state of collimation (it isn't collimated at all; I just lined things up to look square and then torqued the screws down). This will work out.

Need to order some Kydex and some flocking material for light shielding. No, wait... just flocking material. Use cheap flashing for a durable backing material for the black cloth. (Flocking is on order from Protostar.) Still need to provide a mounting point for the guide telescope on the center frame. And collimate carefully. And clean the glass -- lookit that mess.

So. The telescope is finished. You are now entering the never-ending age of "refinements."