When Peter dropped off SDM053 to its proud owner Alex Mihailidis, he was surprised to have a close encounter with Canis Major (can?s to be exact, for there are two)! The scope was mistakenly unloaded beside the roll-off roof observatory, which turned out to be a kennel, as his four legged friends eyed up their new chew-toy.

Thankfully their Big Dob is built to withstand the rigours of the harsh Australian climate with many stainless steel parts and finest marine ply construction. This beautiful scope sports a very fine 14″ mirror too, figured to perfection by Mark Suchting and is sure to give outstanding views of the skies.

The first challenge will be to resolve that difficult double, Sirius, the Dog Star…

A monster dob is a joy to view through at a star party, but spare a thought for the generous owner who had to transport it there.

When you have got one of the largest, sometimes you need a little more help to move that beast in to position. So SDM’s biggest ever creation, SDM022 has been back for a re-tread!

The new transport system makes it wheely easy to move about and the owner can now enjoy stunning views of the night sky without tyreing…

In the right hands, a beautifully constructed Dobsonian turns in to a fabulous astrograph.

And those right hands belong to Alex Cherney  and his fabulous telescope Nyx (SDM035).

Armed with a spectrum-modified Sony NEX-5 camera and great sky during the South Pacific Star Party trip earlier in April, Alex took this top image of M20, the Trifid nebula.

The image has been created from 27 x 15sec images taken at ISO 3200. It is testimony to the ‘scopes precision engineering and the superb tracking of ServoCat that this is even possible, but never underestimate the skill needed by the photographer to bag a shot like this.

Great shot Alex!

It’s hard do believe that it would be possible to enjoy the exquisitely detailed images of a premium grade 32″ Dobsonian without sustaining an altitude induced nose-bleed. Well, it’s time to think again and take a look at this paradigm shifting beauty.

SDM022 is a 32″ f/3.6 scope with a mirror made by Steve Kennedy. This is the 14th 32″ mirror Steve has made and at this focal ratio the scope is only 6″ longer to the eyepiece than a 20″ f/5. And those who have frequented one of Australia’s many star-parties with big dobs in attendance know, that height only requires a modest stepladder to reach the eyepiece when it is near the zenith.

For those of a more nervous disposition, the scope on the right is a somewhat safer, but no less exquisite, SDM054 at 12″ f/5.

“With the improving weather I managed to take Nyx (SDM035) out to a reasonably dark site.

The views of galaxies in Grus were excellent including the trio, with some good details in quite a few of the observed galaxies. The Helix Nebula was excellent with a UHC filter and Jupiter looked very crisp and detailed.

Taking Nyx out from the backyard, loading it into the car and setting up at the site takes very little time – less than 30 minutes all up.  The collimation is a breeze and the scope is exceptionally solid (the return laser beam dot stays in its place no matter were the scope is pointing). Best of all – the custom designed semi-compact 22″ telescope easily fits into our family wagon and I can leave the ladder at home. The innovative design provides full protection of the primary mirror for piece of mind.

I could continue on and on about what I like about Nyx, but putting it simply – the workmanship and attention to detail are superb and it is is a pure joy to use Nyx.  As you might have guessed already I am another very happy and proud SDM owner.” Alex Cherney