Rod Berry, a Sydney-based lawyer, is very excited about an order he has just placed for SDM#012, a 20″ telescope, with f/5 mirror from OMI Torus. Rod says, “SDM scopes are truly works of art. What better instrument to use to observe the cosmic canvas, than with one of Peter Read’s creations?”

Rod started seriously observing some 18 months ago when he purchased his first scope, a 10″ SCT. He never misses New Moon observing opportunities, and will drive long distances to get to the darkest skies possible. He is also well known to his Central Coast neighbours for his peculiar backyard observing habits at all hours of the night.

Visual astronomy is Rod’s thing, and in the last 12 months he has been systematically working through the Messier, Caldwell, Herschel 400 and Bennett catalogues, and also some of other brighter objects in the NGC and IC. He is a compulsive keeper of written observations, which lends itself well to his growing interest in double star observing. Having recently had several opportunities to observe through a large truss Dobsonian telescope, Rod is now yearning for larger aperture to see galaxies, planetary nebulae, and globulars in greater detail, and to help with cleanly splitting closer doubles.

His wife and children are wondering whether Rod will ever come down from his observing ladder after SDM#012 arrives in November 2006. Rod plans to use Argo-Navis to help locate observing objects initially, and in the long-term hopes to have Servo-cat installed to give his scope full GOTO functionality.

SDM telescopes has accepted the kind invitation from Ice-In-Space, the premier Australian on-line community to present at their second Astro Camp in January 2007. Peter will be giving a talk entitled “Building a Large Aperture Dobsonian – some secrets revealed”. A real must for anyone setting out to build their own Dobsonian. More details about this event can be found in the IIS website.

The exclusive SDM Owners’ Club has admitted its latest member. Peter Brooks from Sydney, who is seen here trying a 25″ for size, has placed an order for an 18″ SDM Telescope complete with the fabulous ArgoNavis and ServoCat combination. Peter will be using his telescope to make occultation timings using a special video camera, so we can look forward to SDM #009 making some incredibly valuable scientific contributions in this specialised field in the near future. This is sure to be a fantastic build and we’ll keep you updated as #009 progresses.

The 2006 Queensland Astrofest saw the coming together of SDM #004, #005 and #006 with their proud owners to celebrate a weekend of clouds and conversation. Peter was on hand to tune up the telescopes and enjoy splendid views glimpsed in difficult circumstances. SDM#006 saw first light with ServoCat and its owner Jonathan was rewarded both with its stunning tracking and with fabulous views of the Dumbbell Nebula M27 with its central star clearly visible, the Southern Veil and Trifid Nebula on Friday night before the rains came. Saturday was a great day to catch up with old acquaintances and to make new friends – there was no shortage of interest in the three monster dobs!

In an intensive two day operation, SDM#006, has had ServoCat installed. In what is thought to be a world first, all cables have been routed internally and the ServoCat control box has been neatly hidden away inside the rocker box. Apart from being a very beautiful solution, it’s practical too – the main electronic components are shielded from the extremely humid Queensland conditions. Furthermore, the telescope can now be powered either from a ground board externally connected power supply or from its own internally mounted battery at the flick of a switch.