Encyclopedia

Dobsonian

Dobsonian

(dob-soh -nee-ăn) A telescope with a simple but highly stable altazimuth mounting that can be constructed and used by an amateur astronomer. It swings very smoothly between side bearings and is mounted on a simple sturdy rotating platform. The mounting, pioneered in the mid-20th century by John Dobson, a US telescope maker, is popular for large-aperture short-focus reflectors.
Collins Dictionary of Astronomy © Market House Books Ltd, 2006
References in periodicals archive
Hubble Optics, known for manufacturing high-quality Newtonian reflector optics, now offers the UL24, a 24-inch f/3.3 ultra-light Dobsonian ($9,500).
A popular altazimuth mount is the sturdy, boxy Dobsonian design.
His latest, a 9-inch long-focus truss tube Dobsonian, is robust yet disassembles into a few relatively compact modules for transportation.
The Dobsonian telescope is named after the American astronomy populariser John Dobson, who created the design in the 1960s.
"This is a play on words, and involves taking collapsible, Dobsonian style telescopes to the top of Snowdon to raise money for charity.
The two men had settled on an Orion 8-inch Dobsonian telescope, just the right size for Josh to set up by himself.
Dobson is the inventor of the Dobsonian mount--a device that revolutionized the telescope, making large-diameter telescopes that once necessitated costly setups available to anyone with a few bucks and the will to gaze into deep space.
I'd never done any woodworking before and only used a drill maybe once previously." Yet he came up with a perfectly serviceable Dobsonian mount.
Stewart Moore: a review of the deep sky year Robin Leadbeater: the spectra of dying stars Bob Winter: the death of stars Martin Lunn: dating Cassiopeia A and its implications Chris Longthorn: observing from New Mexico skies Andrew Robertson: building and using a large Dobsonian telescope The professional talk will be given by Dr Matthew Malek of Imperial College, London, on 'Cosmic Genesis: a unique view of the birth of a neutron star'.
Undoubtedly the most common telescope type at any star party or telescope makers' convention like ScopeX, is the Dobsonian. This is no surprise since its design is simple and cheap, yet very stable and, if well made, has very smooth movement and is extremely easy to use.
But at the Scarborough star fest last year, we were shown Pluto through a 14-inch Dobsonian telescope.
NGC 6939 sparkles in my 18-inch f/4.5 Dobsonian. Fully resolved at 69x, the cluster exhibits two remarkably straight chains of stars at right angles to each other.
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