Re: ATM Scope-on-Trailer

[Kreig McBride <kmcbride@memes.com>]

Spencer,

Another design idea for your trailer mounted scope.
Design the scope so that once the scope is on the ground and 
detached from the trailer, you could pull the trailer away.
Imagine a "U" shaped trailer with the top of the U towards the
rear. The scope would fit in the slot of the U. Sorry. No 
pictures here.

Kreig McBride
Bellingham, WA

************************************************************************
At 12:58 PM 5/21/97 -0700, you wrote:
>I've done a lot of thought experiments along this line.  I am pretty sure
>that mounting a telescope directly to a trailer would be unsatisfactory,
>because there would be no way to make the trailer itself stable enough on
>the ground (even with leveling screws) to avoid having even your slightest
>movement disturb the scope.
>
>The concept I have toyed with is to have a telescope pier that goes through
>a hole in the trailer floor, and then below the floor has extendable
>(lowerable) legs to support it directly on the ground.  Then, just like a
>"real" observatory, your movements in the trailer would be insulated from
>the pier.
>