Side by Side Telescopes

Sometimes, when Sheila or the grandkids are observing the sky with me, I can't help but think that having two telescopes mounted side-by-side would make things a bit easier.  For years, I've been saying that I'll put together a piece of hardware to allow me to do this but I never got around to it.  I could always set up two complete telescopes with two complete mounts but that is a lot more work.  Plus, then I would be going back and forth between the two mounts making sure they are both centered on the object we are observing.  A way to mount two telescopes side-by-side, tracking together on the same mount, would be a bit easier.  

Well, while I was laid up with my knee injury (I'm still mostly laid up with this knee injury), I was doing some internet surfing looking at astronomy parts.  I found a source for a nice heavy duty dovetail mounting plate that would be perfect for this assembly and I already knew I had a good source for two saddles.  I ordered all three parts as well as the bolts, nuts and washers to assemble it all. 

All the hardware had arrived within a week or two.  I assembled the parts a few days ago and decided to test it on one of my mounts in the living room.  I'm still hobbling around with a brace on my knee so setting up in the living room was the best option.  Besides, it was raining outside like it usually does here!

I decided to test this piece of hardware with a lopsided heavy load and it seemed to work just fine.  

I immediately realized that I hadn't calibrated both saddles on the mounting plate so that they are pointing exactly in the same direction parallel to each other.  That would be an easy fix after I removed the plate from the mount again.  One telescope would provide a wider view than the other so the telescopes won't need to be perfectly parallel but I would want them as close to true parallel as possible.  

Balancing this load took a bit more time than when only balancing one telescope.  Plus, it is a very heavy load so I needed to be careful.  I had no big problems finding a good balance though...  it just took a bit longer than normal.

It will be fun testing this side-by-side setup out in the backyard one of these nights.  I could see this being ideal for Sheila and I to observe the Moon, Jupiter and Saturn.  Observing the sun in daytime would be convenient this way too.  I could even use this side-by-side setup for guiding with the guide scope on one side and the imaging telescope on the other.

Carrying around this amount of weight, even though it was one piece at a time, proved to be too much for my knee.  I felt a few painful twinges yesterday while setting this up.  It is so easy to put a twisting pressure on the knee when navigating through the house.  It is even easier to occur while carrying heavy telescope components.  

This side-by-side plate is ready to go now though!