Astronomers and Their Dobs: Paying a Twitter Tribute to John Dobson

By Nancy Atkinson - January 16, 2014 at 3:56 PM UTC | Observing
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12" of awesome Dobsonian love. Thanks #johndobson for the views! @universetoday@JPMajorpic.twitter.com/PLA321Vqf1 — Scott MacNeill (@scottiemacneill)

Amateur astronomers love their Dobs. As we said in a

previous article

, "A Dobsonian is simplicity in itself; a simple set of optics on a simple mount. But don't be fooled by this simplicity. Dobsonian telescopes are incredibly good and are great for amateurs and professional astronomers alike."

And so, we were all saddened to learn of the

passing of John Dobson

, the inventor of this beloved telescope. We asked our followers on

Twitter

to tweet pictures of their Dobs, and our feed got flooded with pics and remembrances. See a bunch of our retweets below:

@universetoday Co-creators of http://t.co/F0j0xZo0g1 Jimi Lowrey and Dragan Nikin with Jimis 48" f/4 OMI pic.twitter.com/Mgr4KNOfjd — DeepSkyForum (@DeepSkyForum)

@universetoday (part of) me and my trustee 19-year old Dobsonian. Should have painted it black! :-} pic.twitter.com/AcVJT1A2GM — Shahrin.Ahmad (Shah) (@shahgazer)

@universetoday Here's my daughter's 6" f/8 'sidewalk telescope' that we built. RIP #johndobsonpic.twitter.com/CpnvHTGYY0 — Brett Schaerer (@astrobug75)

@universetoday commercial 6" and homemade 10" pic.twitter.com/ZRGokcCjeJ — Paul Stewart (@astrostew)

@universetoday here's @SalAstroSoc 14 inch #Dobsonian at our lady open day pic.twitter.com/WAe2LEf4Ju — Salford Astronomical (@SalAstroSoc)

Here's my 10-Inch #JohnDobson scope, with a homemade solar filter #DIYhttp://t.co/CMQ8u5dS30@universetodaypic.twitter.com/MA0RcguCXc — Jane Houston Jones (@jhjones)

@universetoday Looking at PANSTARRS with my #dobsonianpic.twitter.com/lRp38TWh0i — Peter Wakeford (@echempe)

@universetoday Here's the pic of me and my dob that was on the back cover of my book! pic.twitter.com/HKwRRJdGvi — Kelly Kizer Whitt (@Astronomommy)

@universetoday My 8 inch #johndobsonpic.twitter.com/T0bUINmjV1 — Kate Northcutt (@katenorthcutt)

@universetoday Co-creator of http://t.co/F0j0xZo0g1 Dragan Nikin and his 25" f/5 Obsession pic.twitter.com/Iu3EAqB2hQ — DeepSkyForum (@DeepSkyForum)

The Art Guarino 10" Dobsonian @FrostyDrewOBSY#johndobson@universetoday ht @JPMajorpic.twitter.com/VJnQyQwp0B — Frosty Drew OBSY (@FrostyDrewOBSY)

@universetoday best thing I've ever bought. #johndobsonpic.twitter.com/qtOizlvXo6 — Nathan Broussard (@ropeswing05) January 16, 2014

@universetoday Here's mine with infinite thanks to #johndobson for adding wonder and joy to my life. pic.twitter.com/mwmvVzuwBp — Jennifer Rivera (@lasenorarivera)

You can see more on our Twitter feed.

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com