Rod Berry, a Sydney-based lawyer, is very excited about an order he has just placed for SDM#012, a 20″ telescope, with f/5 mirror from OMI Torus. Rod says, “SDM scopes are truly works of art. What better instrument to use to observe the cosmic canvas, than with one of Peter Read’s creations?”

Rod started seriously observing some 18 months ago when he purchased his first scope, a 10″ SCT. He never misses New Moon observing opportunities, and will drive long distances to get to the darkest skies possible. He is also well known to his Central Coast neighbours for his peculiar backyard observing habits at all hours of the night.

Visual astronomy is Rod’s thing, and in the last 12 months he has been systematically working through the Messier, Caldwell, Herschel 400 and Bennett catalogues, and also some of other brighter objects in the NGC and IC. He is a compulsive keeper of written observations, which lends itself well to his growing interest in double star observing. Having recently had several opportunities to observe through a large truss Dobsonian telescope, Rod is now yearning for larger aperture to see galaxies, planetary nebulae, and globulars in greater detail, and to help with cleanly splitting closer doubles.

His wife and children are wondering whether Rod will ever come down from his observing ladder after SDM#012 arrives in November 2006. Rod plans to use Argo-Navis to help locate observing objects initially, and in the long-term hopes to have Servo-cat installed to give his scope full GOTO functionality.