Work on the concept for a commercial 16-inch aperture Dobsonian telescope began in the spring of 1991. The US company Meade was selected as the optics supplier. Meade offered a 16-inch f/4.5 mirror set for Newtonian telescopes in its product range.

Prefabricated mirror cells and focusers were ordered from Kenneth Novak, USA. Constructing the truss-tube assembly and Dobsonian mount, as well as painting, final assembly, and collimation, were my tasks; Stefan Thiele then offered the 16" Skylight telescopes to interested customers.

Waterproof plywood was selected as the material for the tube and mount; the smooth side was primed and then coated with automotive paint by a professional sprayer. The edges were protected using aluminum profiles and ball corners typical of flight case construction, giving the telescope a professional appearance. Customers placing a pre-order could choose the paint color from color catalogs.

The rough side of plywood board was used as the interior of the tube and coated with matte black paint.

The rings for the upper housing and the semi-circular segments for the altitude bearings were cut using jigs and a jigsaw. The housing wall consisted of thin fiberglass sheet, with the interior painted matte black.

Unfortunately, the function of Kenneth Novak’s mirror cells did not meet my quality expectations, and they required modification. The mirror cell was adjusted using spring-loaded tension screws and a locking mechanism. This made optical collimation easier and more stable than with the original units from the USA.

The first "Dobsonian telescope made in Germany"—a green-painted Skylight 16—was presented by the company AIT (Astronomische Instrumente Stefan Thiele) at the FAA (Trade Fair for Amateur Astronomy) in Laupheim at Whitsun in 1992. At the time, the competition had no comparable product to offer.

We encountered tremendous interest in our "Skylight 16" Dobsonian. The display telescope was sold right there at the trade show. The following day, I delivered it to the customer and provided a briefing on its use. Now, the optics and components for new Skylight telescopes could be ordered.

Unfortunately, John Diebel, the owner of Meade, did not prove to be a reliable supplier of optics. Delivery times stretched from an initial six weeks to six months. It then took over a year before another mirror set was delivered to us. Consequently, we discontinued the small production run after just a few units.

Many years later, Skylight 16 No. 1 resurfaced from the estate of the first customer of Fernrohrland in Fellbach. The current owner lives in northern Germany. One of the blue No. 3 telescopes is located at the Ehingen Observatory, a satellite facility of the Laupheim Public Observatory.

At the request of a fellow astronomy enthusiast, I built No. 5—a dark red 14.5" f/5.5 Dobsonian featuring a mirror set from Galaxy Optics.

I built the last unit of this small series—No. 6, in the same green as No. 1—for myself, using a 10-inch f/4.5 mirror set from Coulter. This was the travel telescope I took with me on a tour around North African country of Morocco in May 1994. 

That was when I first saw objects in the southern sky—the globular cluster Omega Centauri, the galaxy Centaurus A, and the Bug Nebula in the constellation Scorpius.

In 2004, my son Alexander—then 17 years old—became the owner of this 10.1-inch Skylight Dobsonian telescope.