The Observatory

Page last updated 01/09/06

See View Observatory is a privately owned home observatory. The aim of this site is to help promote the hobby of amateur astronomy here in Great Britain, as well as providing a useful resource for existing amateurs.

Our main instruments

This section contains a brief description and technical details of the main instruments used here at See View. A rogues gallery with pictures of our main instruments can be found here

Meade 152mm (6") f = 1216mm F/8 Newtonian Reflector - An excellent general purpose scope, with all the advantages of a standard Newtonian.

Skymax-150 Pro 150mm (6") f = 1800mm F/12 Maksutov Cassegrain - This is an ideal telescope for high power planetary viewing as well as imaging.

Meade 152mm (6") f = 762mm F/5 Schmidt-Newtonian - Provides bright wide angle images of extended objects. The 10" version of this telescope was one of the instruments we considered for our 'main telescope'.

Coronado PST™ 40mm f = 400mm F/10  - The Coronado Personal Solar Telescope produces Hydrogen Alpha images allowing one to see the Sun's Chromosphere.  From time to time we hope to show these images live on AstroCam. Further details and a our review can be found here

Orion 80mm f = 600mm F/7.5 ED Refractor - We bought this apochromatic refractor to replace our previous refractors; primarily for low to medium power lunar, planetary and white light solar observation.

TeleVue Pronto™ 70mm f = 480mm F/6.8 ED  - We originally bought this scope to review and then sell on. However, having carried out the review it is here to stay and I don't suppose anyone who has ever used one will blame me! At some point in the future I hope to obtain a full aperture Hydrogen alpha filter for it...

Bushnell Trophy 9 x 63 Binoculars  - These are actually a pair of demonstration binoculars for our AstroShop, but we figure as they are here we may as well make full use of them! Great for a quick look and see especially if there is cloud around and it is not worth setting up any of the other instruments. Our review can be found here
 

Our other instruments

Orion Apex 102mm (4") f = 1300mm F/12.7 Maksutov-Cassegrain - A highly portable little scope when used with the Orion Min-EQ Mount. For a scope that measures just under 300mm (12") in length it's a real performer. You can read our review on the Apex 102mm here

60mm (2.4") f = 350mm F/5.8 ETX-60 Achromatic Refractor - A highly portable fully computerised scope. Used pretty much in place of binoculars, with the advantage that it tracks the object and you don't need to hold it steady allowing others to take a look. You can read our review of the ETX range of scopes here

76.2mm (3") f = 910mm F/12 Achromatic Refractor - Our old workhorse, this instrument is used for white light solar observation, lunar observation and relatively low power (<140x) observation of the planets.

76.2mm (3") f = 1200mm F/15.8 Achromatic Refractor - A 1966 Tasco that we bought to keep our other old 3" refractor company. Despite its age the optics in this scope are immaculate and it works impeccably.

Little Mak™ Maksutov Gregorian 30mm F/5.1 - The smallest Maksutov design scope on the market. This tiny scope has it's own page here

76mm f = 600 F/7.9 Short tube Newtonian Hybrid - This scope performs well for a small grab and go budget instrument. A full description along with pictures and our review can be found here
 

Phenix Optics Co 127mm (5")  f = 1200mm F/9.5 Achromatic Refractor - Our large refractor (subsequently sold) used for medium power lunar and planetary observation in addition to white light solar observation. Our review and further information on this telescope can be found here

Phenix Optics Co 127mm (5") f = 700mm F/5.5 Rich Field Achromatic Refractor - A sample we retained from the first batch of these scopes received from China (subsequently sold). Check out our review here

An independent review written and kindly sent to us by Duncan Church who has used this scope to produce some rather nice images can be found here
 

See View Time

History

The observatory was originally planned as a public observatory. However this has now changed and access will only be available over the internet though our AstroCam link.

As part of our feasibility study, over the course of a week way back in January 1998 we attempted to contact every astronomical society in Great Britain, and asked if their members would be willing to take part in a written survey.  The vast majority of those contacted agreed to do so.

Thank you to all those who took the time to complete the survey

Summary of results

As we promised to all who took part, full details of the survey are confidential. We will not give out information on individual societies or particular areas of the country - so please don't ask.