Review by Ed Ting - Astro Sky

Astro Sky 10" f/5.6 Dobsonian 2/11/05

(10" f/5.6 Newtonian)

They say everything you do in life is a reaction to something else that's happened to you.

In my case, that's certainly true. After spending 2 1/2 happy years with my 16" Night Sky

Dobsonian, I had to face the reality that I had not used it for nearly six months. I knew

the time had come to pass stewardship of it to someone else. A nice man flew up from

Philadelphia, rented a big car, and drove it home. He was happy to get the scope, I was

happy to get the money, and the scope is probably happy it's getting used, and if that's

not the definition of a good deal, I don't know what is.

I've had good luck with small manufacturers, and noticed James Grigar's Astro Sky Dobs

advertised on Astromart, and decided to give it a try. Coincidentally, like Night Sky,

Astro Sky is owned and run by a guy named Jim, who also happens to live in Louisiana.

Grigar has a simple web site that isn't fancy; it just looks like marked-up text with

photos added. Not that I am against simple web sites that are nothing more than marked-

up text with photos added. Looks who's talking.

James Grigar, who tells me he has been hearing impaired since birth, got his first scope

from K-Mart, a 15 X 30 mm hand held unit. He built an Edmund reflector shortly after.

He's been operating his web site since 1999, making mount accessories. Since June of

2004 he's been making his own Dobsonians. He plans to offer digital setting circles and

a Sky Commander on future models. This is a full-time job for him. I placed an order

for a 10" unit.

Delivery of the scope took about 2 months, which is pretty fast for a custom Dob. It came

very well packed, and like other nice scopes I've bought, it took as long to unpack the

parts as it did to assemble it. If you're used to putting together a truss Dob, there aren't

any big surprises. There are four truss pole units, hinged in the middle to form eight

trusses. The hinge at the top is clamped to the upper truss assembly with a locking cam,

like the quick-release lever on the wheel of your bicycle. The scope has a reasonable

eyepiece height (no ladder necessary) and weighs about 61 lbs. The bearings are standard

teflon on formica, and I would rate its "sticktion" as middle-of-the-road - not too loose,

not too binding. The finish is, well, beautiful. I am getting so used to seeing beautiful

woodworking on telescopes these days that it's easy to get jaded. Suffice it to say that

the level of woodworking here is far beyond anything that I could accomplish. There's a

really nice metal nameplate on the rocker box.

The scope uses a sling, a bit unusual for a mirror this small. If you're not familiar with

how a sling works, picture a mirror sitting on its edge on a hammock. Now tilt the mirror

back gently so that it rests on three (or more) triangular metal plates lined with felt.

That's a sling. This sounds precarious, but in actual use a sling can be quite sturdy,

and can hold its collimation very well. After driving the scope around in my aging, rattling

1995 Grand Cherokee, I found the mirror needed only minor adjustments when I got to the

observing site. The major difficulty with a sling is its initial adjustment. Hint: the bottom

of the mirror should rest on the sling, and only the sling. If it's resting on one of the

posts, you haven't got it right.

I've seen more than my share of front-heavy Dobs lately, and this was one of them. Putting

in anything heavier than a 19 mm Panoptic would cause the front end to slowly droop to the

ground. When I reported this to Grigar, he generously offered to make me an entire new,

heavier tailgate assembly. The new tailgate arrived about two weeks later, and I spent

a couple of hours switching it out for the old one. The scope is balanced perfectly now.

Mine was the first sample of this size off the line, so little issues like this should be

resolved by the time you read this. James says he is also working on a set of detailed

instructions, complete with photos.

The scope uses a Discovery mirror. It's a good one. The optics are only slightly under-

corrected, nothing to worry about. I spent some nice evenings looking at the winter sky

objects. Under steady conditions, all six members of the Trapezium are easy. The Blinking

Planetary is just getting bright enough in a 10" that it will sometimes refuse to "blink."

Saturn shows at least six moons if you know where to look. Winter is an especially good

time to go hunting for open clusters, and I spent a lot of time picking out open clusters

in Canis Major and Minor, Cassiopeia, Monoceros, and Auriga.

As I've noted before, the best reviews tend to be the short ones. Once the balance issue

(above) was addressed, I didn't really think about the scope much while I was observing.

It just gets out of the way. I'm glad I bought it, and I can already tell it's going to

get a lot of use.

Should you get one? If you're the type of observer that needs one of the "status" brands,

this Astro Sky might not stroke your ego enough. If you're a fan of big scopes and LIKE

YOUR IMAGES REALLY BRIGHT, 10" might not be big enough for you (Astro Sky does

offer larger models though.) But if you're in the market for a medium aperture Dobsonian,

the Astro Sky is well-made, has good optics, its delivery time is reasonable, and the price

is right. What's not to like?