Not only do I design, construct and build my own telescopes (and of course sell them), but I've been using them to find myself under the stars
pretty much every clear night since 2003.
I started with a purchased 8" f/6 Galaxy Dobsonian, later I ground my first 8" mirror. In the course of the time a 13" Dobsonian and finally in
2008 a 18" Dobsonian were built, with which I explored the depths of the universe for the very first time.
Currently I am observing with my newest telescope, a 20" f/3.2 Dobsonian, which I named "Nessaja". It was basically the prototype for
the new telescope series "Horizon" and has a mirror diameter of 500mm and a focal length of 1,600mm. The primary mirror is self made
and has a Strehl ratio of S=0.95. The secondary mirror has an accuracy of better lambda/10. Overall, "Nessaja" has an excellent optics, which
makes many observations at the limit possible.
Because I live in the southern part of Germany, my favourite observing site is in the northern Black Forest. Up there on nearly 1,000mNN
(3,100 feet a.s.l.) it is always quite chilly and partly also very windy, but the sky is simply beautiful. The SQM-L shows regularly values of
21.3mag/"² and better, in the best nights even up to up to 21.6mag/"². So it is worth the longer journey (1 hour drive) from Karlsruhe.
In my early days I only wrote observation reports. I started drawing only later, because it seemed too complicated to me at the beginning.
In the meantime it is exactly the other way around - I actually draw almost only, while in return the text descriptions decreased clearly. All
drawings shown here were made under the above-mentioned dark sky in the Black Forest.
Clear Skies, Christian Busch