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Stars Galore
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Hi I'm Joe Cahak and this is my wife Beth
We live in Ramona in the San Diego County foothills. The skies are dark and clear most of the time. I have a wide open back yard with a nearly full view of the ecliptic. I have great skies for meteor watching. I had a terrific view of the Leonids 2001 & 2002. I am just finishing up my observatory. I wanted to mount the telescope permanently for better alignment for AstroPhotography..
Email me: SunshineDesign@cox.net
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We live in San Vicente Valley (Valley of the Sun) - Ramona, Ca
The San Vicente Valley is well shielded from the coastal town lights and we get great views from my back yard. This view overlooks the valley from the ridge of Simon Park. I developed and got accepted the Park use plan and trails. My house is in the lower right. What a view. I hike this a lot and enjoy it In the winter I can see Andromeda and Orion is an easy camera object. We have a higher preponderance of clear skies than the coast. Ramona is also known as the Valley of the Sun. Clear skies abound. I hike this ridge regularly. What a view 360 degrees. The other side of the ridge is Ramona. You can see the whole town and the coast range and ocean in some places on really clear days. As you can see some very dramatic landscape which I love to hike and explore. 7000 ft peak in the background Mt Cuyameca and San Diego River Canyon at about 300 ft between and Mt Gower at 3300 ft closer on the left horizon. The valley floor is at about 1400ft. Behind the mountain in the background the plateau it drops dramatically down to the Salton Sea at about 200 ft. See my San Vicente Tail site to see more.
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| Telescope | Binocular and Mounts | |
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8" Meade LX10 Schmidt-Cassigrain Telescope
New camera mount for telescope. Now I can track the star field.
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20x80 Binoculars with Tripod Mount
20x80 Binoculars with All View Binocular Mount
Mount built for viewing from standing, sitting and reclined positions. Allows me to see high angles of view which the tripod mount cannot do.
See more on mount design plans for sale
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Camera Canon 10D |
Some of my webcams. I had hopes to make a meteor scanner and logger. The splitter and USB allowed me to add another 15 ft to the 6 and get to 21ft for the outside camera. This idea still in progress.
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| Telescope Accessories |
FloobyDust |
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Battery Box
Lens Case
Color Filter Box
These are all custom hand built by and for me. Thanks to my daughter Chandra for the color lens.
I finally got the eyepiece
projectors I need.
Focusing Aid
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AstroCompass I found this beauty at a garage sale and got it for $15. Even had a nice hardwood custom case with it!! I just finished resurfacing it recently.
Metal Detector for Meteor hunting More coming soon.... Telescope night lighting with LEDs for hour and declination angle viewing Solar Telescope Web Cam imager
I also met one of OptiCalculators main reference books authors. Great guy and I sent him a copy to review and comment on. See promo below. Excellent reference book and great author.
Astrophotography for the Amateur by Michael Covington Cambridge Press ISBN: 0-521-25391-8
Digital SLR Astrophotography by Michael Covington ISBN: 978-0-521-70081-8
I also met with Dennis Mamanna who is a local Amateur Astronomer of some fame. www.skyscapes.com He was a great guy and fun to meet.
Astronomy magazine ran a promotional on my AstroCalculator product. www.AstroCalculator.com in October 2004 issue. Sky and Telescope ran it in April 2004. We also ran a promo for OptiCalculator tin 2005.
Recent Project a pocket sundial
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Pocket Sundials I made for my brothers
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Microscope
I got this beauty for $20!! A set of lenses, a case hand built by me shown right side, a light source and this baby was in action. This was a professional grade microscope for $20! Wow! How could any aspiring scientist turn that deal down.
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Microscope Box
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| Some of my favorite AstroPhotos downloaded off the web. | ||
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Ayers Rock and Leonids 2002
Leonids from
Space |
Andromeda Galaxy
NGC6537 Nebula
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Observatory project coming along. I finally got some pics. It's got some finishing to go, but it's usable. I also have to make the LED light and 12 Power distribution systems. I'll also have to make some furniture, a desk for the computer and books and also something to store all the telescope accessories etc.
I gave it a 36 inch wide aperture and it's roomy enough to not feel crowded. I still have to trim up the top. I just have a temp plate on it for now. The main opening sheet covers the telescope from rain.
06/15/2009 I'll have new pictures soon. I am almost done with the dome and am working final sealing and painting. The door is done, the face plates are done, the sides are done. I just have to bend the steel rods for the face plate security and finish the top hat and it's done. I will mount the telescope next weekend most likely. Then I will take more images. The weight of the panels and paint have made for a slower turn then without the weight, but it is still one hand turn. I made the aperture of the observatory 36 inches wide to make rotation needs minimal. I have my daughter and granddaughters coming and I want to use it with them.
I recently got the book "Setting up the Small Observatory" author David Arditti and was able to contact him.
David Arditti Author of "Setting up the Small Observatory"
04/26/2009 I worked at finishing the dome frame and track way. I sanded and finished it to protect from the outside sun and moisture. I also had Beth's help to clean the golf balls, which she dutifully helped with. I got my neighbors John and his son Dillon to help me mount the dome frame on the observatory. John is the kind soul who helped me with the second hand lumber and the telescope mount. Beth and I installed the cleaned golf balls and set the dome down on the observatory base to finally test the bearing. Dramatic pause..... It worked perfectly. I could not believe how well it ended up working.
Now I can make the door and shell the dome and give it an exterior coat and it's ready for my telescope. This project has been in process for 18 months now and is moving to completion pretty well now.
04/12/2009 I worked Easter weekend on my Observatory to build the Dome Frame and the Base Track way for the golf ball bearings. Thanks to my neighbor, whoever you are up near Simon Park. I collect the balls he hits out into the Park. So I got my resource for free. As you can guess it was a lot of work and back work. I am also documenting everything to make plans for sale for others. I made a nice and wide 36 inch opening to the sky so I minimize obstructions to the telescope.
The dome still needs the main side struts, the fill in cross braces and the planing and sanding the the facetted surfaces for the cover. This is to better accept the panels for the cover.
I got the pad, frame and telescope mount done. I only have the dome to finish yet. My sitting rock is in the foreground. I sit on it to watch the stars go round some nights.
Ecliptic Finder I recently made this. I was surprised at the overall look and feel for the final instrument. I can add a magnetic compass and spot level to top it off.
Original design in Sky and Telescope 1992. I made mine with a better circular calendar with equinox quarter lines , month and 10 day divisions. Top and bottom have matching graphs, i.e. the bottom one is mirrored. I also added the gnome for the day of the year reading. Not shown are the small magnetic compass and spot level I have to add to the adornments for the magnetic north reference and level for better alignment. Note the divisions on graph.
Ecliptic Finder in use. First align axis to Celestial North (Polaris) and then turn axis until minimal shadow and then look to the gnome and date on wheel top or bottom. Note that the sun then tracks the disk and will cast a minimal shadow any time of day, as contrasted to the sundial where the angle of the shadow in relation to the gnome tells the user the time of day.
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