wpo - my astro interests

my homepage    my observatory    construction of Meade dome     Meade LX200 mount Guardian Newspaper

Hi - my name is Maurice Gavin [mgavin at ntlworld.com] and I’m a retired architect.  My dual interests in photography and astronomy goes back to my teens in 1947.   In 1950 I joined the BAA and made my first real telescope by rubbing together two 6-inch glass disks in traditional ATM style.   Much later 8-inch, 12-inch and finally 17.5-inch Newtonian telescopes were built  with purchased optics and  housed under a 10-ft dome.   In 1980 I bought a Celestron C-8 and this and a massive 9-inch f/4 Wray lens were mounted on the big Newtonian.

I enjoyed taking photos and developing the results but by the late ‘80s increasing light pollution rendering long exposure photography impossible.  In 1990 Astronomy Now invited me to review the SBIG ST-4 CCD camera.   I was hooked. Beyond their remarkable sensitivity, CCDs allow the images to be viewed immediately which is great for those [like me] who like to experiment with all manner of lenses and gadgets before the camera and get instant feedback.   Initially I used a SX colour CCD for quick snaps but now use a Fuji 1400z and Minolta D7 digital cameras for Internet uploads which is great fun.
In 1994 I succumbed to an automated 12-inch Meade LX200 SCT and built the smaller Meade dome shown abutting the main observatory.   My productivity rocketed - working from the computer room between the two domes.  With my long-standing interest in spectroscopy CCDs are the perfect detector - mostly SX MX9 and MX5c cameras.
First LRGB?  In Nov 1996 whilst reviewing SBIG 255+CFW, I hit on the idea of combining luminance + RGB to create maybe the first LRGB image [M57 posted on the popular Compuserve Astroforum at the time - shown adjacent] which I termed "a hybrid merge mono + RGB image".

Astronomy is nothing unless you can discuss it with fellow amateurs.  I belong to my local Ewell AS, UK CCD Users Group, Webb Society, SAGAS, The Astronomer [TA] and the British Astronomical Association [BAA] serving as president of the latter in 1996-7.   I regularly contribute articles to Astronomy Now and Sky & Telescope - including May 2000 issue on the SBIG spectrometer.  Summer 2000 the larger dome was cleared of telescopes and a new WPO spectrograph shown above for coupling to the SX CCD cameras was developed for the LX200.  The larger dome was stripped for conversion to a workshop and the former 17.5-inch Newtonian was converted to a Big Dobsonian.
text & images copyright - Maurice Gavin 1996-2003

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