This site describes one of the most popular amateur astronomy telescope designs around, the Dobsonian. You'll see that it's a clever adaptation of
the Newtonian. Invented by John Dobson, who called the design a sidewalk
telescope, it has become a favorite for a couple of important reasons.
But before you spring money on a commercial DOB, you might check out DOB
plans at Building a
Dobsonian Telescope. If you like to tinker, making one might be just
the ticket. If you want to start viewing right away, the previous links
can help you get started right away.
The Secret Is Simplicity
The DOB, as it is often called, is a very clever adaptation of the Newtonian, invented by
John Dobson. He put a Newtonian telescope on what's now described as a
Dobsonian mount. As shown, the Dobsonian mount is a simple altazimuth mount
made primarily of wood.
Using a model telescope, the above set of images shows the simple
azimuth/elevation movements of a Dobsonian telescope. The solid but simple
mount rests on Teflon pads that are spread out to nearly the diameter of the
base, making for a super solid mount. Movements are simple, and the
altazimuth design keeps the eyepiece always in a comfortable configuration,
with its only motion being up and down.
The Dobsonian mount has provided two very useful benefits to the amateur
astronomer. It makes available telescopes that are amazingly inexpensive do to
the largely wood constructed mounts, and it allows fairly large telescopes to
be mounted at reasonable cost. The era of the Dobsonian design has
ushered in the popularity of relatively short focus Newtonian telescopes,
which offer large apertures and work well on the simple altazimuth mount.
A very popular DOB design and size is shown at left. It illustrates the
straightforward design, low profile, and amazingly low cost for the size
of the instrument. A comparable size instrument in any other design would
cost much more.
The Dobsonian typically uses a metal surface (often aluminum) on Teflon
pads for a simple low-friction bearing. Simple pressure on the side of the main
tube allows easy positioning of the instrument in either azimuth or
elevation.
In all optical aspects, the Dobsonian is a Newtonian telescope with a
concave primary mirror, a flat secondary suspended by 1 to 4 vanes of thin
metal (the spider), and a focuser. Since it's a Newtonian in optical design,
it has all the advantages and disadvantages of any Newtonian. That is, mirrors
are exposed to the elements during observing sessions, and thus must be
occasionally carefully cleaned. This of course necessitates realigning
the optics. Periodic alignment tweaking is also recommended to obtain peak
performance.
The altazimuth mount's main advantage is sturdiness and simplicity. It's
disadvantage is that it is only good for visual work, and both axes must be
nudged to keep an object in view. There are suppliers of equatorial driven
platforms that can adapt a Dobsonian to do photographic work. Generally
the cost of the equatorial platform is comparable to the cost of the
telescope. Kit forms of equatorial platforms are available at Equatorial Platform Kits.
I've used Dobsonians effectively for years, and for many of those years
it was all I had. My main instrument for about 20 years was a classic 8 inch
Dobsonian.
If you think a Dobsonian might be right for you, first give a moment to
examining the following chart, which shows which types of telescopes are
generally used for what kind of observing.
Telescope/Observing Preference Table
Use this astro-customized search to browse some excellent telescope
vendors.
Custom Search
Personal Notes about Dobsonians
I've owned 3 Dobs myself, a 4.25 inch, an 8 inch, and my current 6 inch.
The 4.25 inch was built with a mirror from Edmund Scientific, and was an
excellent performer. I was a fool to part with it. The 8 inch was constructed
using a mirror ground by a friend of mine. I used the instrument for 20 years.
I learned on that model, and experimented with the mount repeatedly.
The 6 inch I have now is heads above my own design, and I can easily see
why Steve Dodson is a master telescope designer. His models, and most
others that can be purchased commercially, have clever designs with
brakes to eliminate elevation slipping, eyepiece shelves, etc.
Some commercial models have computers on them holding star almanacs. The
units aren't motorized, but have setting circles or encoders so one can easily
point the telescope to an object from computer instruction.
that can easily be all you need,
to the larger and very popular
, and even in a very portable, acclaimed (and cute) 
.
