ewanv1970

I've a Meade SN8 that was donated to my "Astronomy Donations" project and I had to do a complete teardown of the scope because the mirrors and corrector plate needed cleaning. I've upgraded the focuser and added a stepper motor to it and will be passing it on to a new owner soon, with the understanding that the scope will need the primary recoating at some point in the not too distant future. Fortunately, the secondary was clear. I now have a Meade SN10 to dismantle because it needs a new focuser and the corrector plate aligning (the spacer under it has shifted and now sits part way across the glass). Anyway, what I wanted to ask was would it be possible for you to post some before and after pictures for the resilvering? I'd be interested to know how you get on with them as I've an F4 8" primary that needs doing before I can give that away.

Tonight I've reached a bit of a milestone in my "Image everything in the Messier Catalogue" challenge and passed the point where I have less than 50 left to capture. Tonight I've grabbed M37, 97 and 108. With M109 and 106 on my missing list too and them being circumpolar, I shoud be able to grab them on the next clear night and bring my outstanding count to 47 wihtout much effort. In the main, I'm making sure that I have an obsy shutdown time of midnight so that I can still function the next day, so it's taken quite a few nights to get to where I am now. Don't get me wrong - Messier items aren't my only targets and several of them (Orion, Andromeda, Triangulum, etc.) that I've imaged every year and often several times over a season. There are also some from my early imaging days that are pretty poor images so I may revisit them if the opportunity and inclination are there, but my main goal is still to have at least one stacked image of every item on the list. I'd be interested to know if anyone else has attempted this, how far you got and if you completed it, how many years it took you (please don't say "one" or I'll cry).

Hi all For those that don't know me, I'm the person that runs the Astronomy Donations UK Group on Facebook. It's where I take your old, unused kit, the bits you leave in a draw because they may be useful some day and the ones your better half has told you have to go before they do. I do whatever is necessary to get the kit back in to good order then I give it away to children and young adults who wouldn't otherwise have access to a telescope, need extra eyepieces or filters and aren't necessarily in a position to buy them for themselves. I also keep a number of items (I've an AZ-GTI amongst other bits) that I loan out to people who want to know whether astronomy is something their son or daughter is actually going to be interested in before they spend out a small fortune on a presant that's going to end up being a very expensive clothes horse. Anyway, the reason for this post is that I've been advised JTW Astronomy are running a charity raffle for one of their P75 (that's 75Kg load capacity) mounts. The raffle is in aid of the European Breast Cancer Coalition, so the mount is a complete one-off as it's bright pink (you can opt for a standard one but...). https://www.jtwastronomy.com/products/pinky-the-p75-trident-direct-friction-drive-telescope-mount Just to confirm, I'm not affiliated in any way with JTW Astronomy and gain no benefit from posting this link here - I just thought it might be of interest to others here.