Dream Telescope

[skydivephil]

Ok time to dream. If money was no object, which telescope would you buy?
Im assuming a commercial telescope here for viewing through an eye piece, not a giant Keck, or a 30 meter or anything like that.
Dream the dream, what would you go for?

[Romanus]

A 7-inch Astro Physics refractor. Looking at planets through them is supposed to be a religious experience.

[suitti]

If money is no object, then there's still portability and performance. For me, portability means it has to fit in my car. Within that, it has to be as big as possible. There are a couple 10 inch (254 mm) newtonian dob scopes out there that have a focal length short enough to fit across the back seat of any car. The OTA is about 25 lbs. The base is about 25 lbs. Such a beast sets up in under 3 minutes. And, you can get a push-to computer for these things.

I like Newtonians over refractors for price reasons. If you get a 10 inch reflector, you can make an 85 mm offset mask - giving you 85 mm of aperture without obstruction, and of course, without chromatic aberration. And, an 85 mm refractor costs about the same amount. But even better is an offset reflector. The center of focus isn't above the mirror at all, just as with the offset mask. And such a mirror can be put into a scope that ends up looking much like a Newtonian. For weight and bulk reasons, i'd want a 10 inch. But in an offset configuration. Spectacular planets. Awesome deep sky.

[AndrewJ]

I'd go for giant binoculars (maybe 40x200 or something) permenantly attached to a parallelogram mount itself permanently attached to the roof of my car. That would turn heads at the South Saskatchewan Star Party!

[WayneFrancis]

Ok time to dream. If money was no object, which telescope would you buy?
Im assuming a commercial telescope here for viewing through an eye piece, not a giant Keck, or a 30 meter or anything like that.
Dream the dream, what would you go for?

I guess Hubble would be out of the question too?

[DrWho]

If money was no object, then I would comission something like the Thirty Meter Telescope, which would have a resolving capability about ten times that of Hubble.

[chornedsnorkack]

What is the most expensive commercial telescope - i. e. a telescope which was not especially designed and built for the specific observatory it is in, but which exists in several copies?

[H4wkeye]

Most expensive i saw was about 1 280 000 USD.

[Nick Theodorakis]

There is a truism among amateur astronomers that the best scope is the one that gets used the most, so I don't think I would get one that requires a long, complicated setup, or else is fixed in a poorly accessible location, but rather one I could take out and look through easily. Thus I think I would go with a large-ish apochromatic refractor or else, as someone mentioned earlier, big binocs on a parallelogram mount.

Nick

[antoniseb]

I look at ads in Sky&Telescope every month or so. When I look at the 30 inch dobs, I quickly come back to thinking about the sky conditions where I live (not ideal). I also more than mildly covet the giant binocular telescopes built on a pair of 16" mirrors.

The reality though, is that if I do get a big telescope of some sort, it will be something to get good terrestrial distance shots for my photo and video hobbies.

[redshifter]

A pair of these:
http://www.bigbinoculars.com/150fmtsx.htm

And one of these:
http://www.obsessiontelescopes.com/t..._UC/index.html

[Tenshu]

I'd get something big that could look at many points in space at once.

[cjl]

http://www.optcorp.com/product.aspx?...-605-1113-8037

[Nick Theodorakis]

...Thus I think I would go with a large-ish apochromatic refractor or else, as someone mentioned earlier, big binocs on a parallelogram mount.

Nick

http://www.optcorp.com/product.aspx?...-605-1113-8037

Now that's what I'm talking about!

Our Price: $167,450.00
List Price: $197,000.00

Nick