Introduction
When my interest in astronomy had a sudden resurgence, I also got another bout of "aperture fever". I had just bought an Orion Skyview 8" Newtonian because the main reason I fell away was that it was inconvenient to lug around "The Water Heater" (my 10" Meade Starfinder). I wanted something more portable. While the 8" has partly failed to meet the convenience criteria (While the parts are smaller, I have to make four trips out of a third-story condo to get it all into the Jeep. Bulky though it may be, two trips loads "The Water Heater".).And now comes the dilemma. While I want a yet bigger aperture, there's the reality that a big aperture scope is, well, BIG (Why d'ya think I call my 10"-er "The Water Heater"?)! I began looking over telescope ads. I really liked the truss-types, and followed up on the ads by visiting the respective web sites. Richard Berry's book, Build Your Own Telescope, which years ago I bought as a reference, now suddenly got new interest. While none of the telescopes in the book looked like what I wanted, I decided that I should build my next telescope. I intensified my studies of the commecially-made scopes, then discovered the amateur telescope making (ATM) sites out there. If I had any doubts about building, they were gone now. Another help came from yet another book, The Dobsonian Telescope, by David Kriege and Richard Berry. Those truss-type scopes were the answer to having a big aperture telescope that I could conveniently transport. So, that brings us to my project's directives:1.) Rich-field telescope
2.) Easy to transport and set up by one person
3.) Quick assembly and disassembly
4.) Light, and compact when disassembled
5.) Low-cost when compared to commercially-made telescopes
I decided to name my project in honor of the best sci-fi show on TV, Stargate SG-1. Besides, the show's theme is "explore the universe", and that's what I want to do also.
