StarryEyed

The creator of the modern meteorological system. I only know because I used to see his grave (not knowing who he was) at the bus stop everyday for years growing up. It stood out and just kept my attention. Found out later in life when the local community raised awareness to it and partitioned for a blue plaque on his house further down the road. Truly an amazing individual. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_FitzRoy If its anyone's fault its his. But way better than the crowd that went before! Those fools made weather predictions buy looking at the moon in telescopes! I kid you not. Dont throw stones and all that...

I don't know how many of you have seen Galatic Hunters channel on YouTube, but I have seen a series of videos he did on Charles Messier's Grave which is in a poor state of upkeep. Personally I felt somewhat sad when I saw its condition. However he has started a fundraiser to pay a company to clean and maintain the grave for a period of time into the future. This is the third video on this. You can find the others on his YouTube site. So if maybe you might feel like I have you might take an interest in this. Project Update - Decorate Charles Messier's Grave - What's happening?

I'm unashamedly biased towards Japanese workmanship having worked with Japanese industry for ten years so Vixen or Takahashi. Vixen have been around since 1949 and Takahashi 1946 theres some joy in owning a product from companies like this. Not of much help to you and your choice I know.

A high end refractor like a Tak requires accessories of the same standard to get the most from it and in terms of cost its a real consideration. I own a tak and it took me a good few years to build up the appropriate eyepieces. So if AP is a key pursuit then you might find you money going further invested in a mount or camera with your existing scope. Five years after getting the tak I still haven't quite got the mount I want which will cost twice as much as the one I have which is still a good mount. So eventually the mount and eyepieces will cost as much as the tak. So plan a path to where you want to be and the steps to get there. I'm off to look at tripods..

worm can be loose but the axis to tight. Their rudimentary but functional almost to rudimentary for motors particularly the way the worm is assembled. I have seen my worm smooth in one direction and lock in the reverse. A HEQ5 has all these things put right but still manafactured and assembled in a rudimentary way to keep the price down. You just need to understand what your dealing with and set it up accordingly and your good to go within limits. Its a lot like buying a kit car that been put togeather in a hurry. You really want to take it apart check it and put it togeather taking your time. You can be sure that whoever assembled it at the factory was doing it as quick as possible. Mine must be fifteen hears old but stripping it down cleaning and new grease it good for a year or two then things start to play up again. Not sure how many more times I can take it apart before some of the metal will give way but I'm careful and thoughtful and I've had my moneys worth a few time over.

Theres something elegant about Stu's slim Takahashi almost ballerina or bird like. Cant work it out but the colour of the Tak paint is part of it.

Take the motors off and turn the worm by hand you'll feel what's happening by the resistance in the worm. Also check this through the whole rotation of the axis. My EQ5 with the backlash set nice for one part of the rotation of the axis will bind at another part. You have to find this point in the rotation and set the worm at that point. It does mean more backlash else where but you will have fixed the binding problem in the worm. You might consider striping down the axis and cleaning them the EQ5 has large bearing surfaces inside and these can get clogged up and cause binding in the axis or at least enough resistance to cause the motors to stutter mine does this every few years. I stripped and cleaned mine the other week as the DEC axis started binding (not the worms) Sometimes my EQ5 is annoying beyond belief but I have had it so long I don't have the heart to get rid of it even though I have other mounts. Its like an old car that I'm actually quite fond of.

No if we could get in a space ship and tour the universe we would because we are explorers no matter the cost. Variable stars with just a pair of binoculars is tremendous fun. Does it get cheaper than that?

First time I saw Saturn, I was twelve and certainly didn't have the words to describe what I saw and felt but the image and feeling have stuck with me for the following forty three years. Reading your post brought both back into the present for me making me feel excited about astronomy again. This memory pops up from time to time and it joyous when it does. Thanks for sharing.

I've lived in London all fifty five years of my life and astronomy been a blast. Theres plenty of things you can do other than snap snap snap. Do some variable, astrometrics work be a bit more of a scientist and less of a tourist its more demanding and can be more rewarding. eclipsing and exposive binaries will impress you for sure then up to exoplanet hunting. Cant see anything from the city is just wrong you can experience the full monstrous might of the universe if your up for the challenge.

Congrats on finding the washer!! That's the sort of thing life throws at us just to check we are actually dedicated and serious about it. Makes the success at the sweeter!

Superb.

Think I have 12 TB in total on two servers. Not all astronomy. I dont throw anything away. The astro photos go back to 2002. Hoard it!

A 150mm objective is an expensive bit of glass if you don't know what your looking at. Talk to the supplier first before you do anything and follow their advice. If you follow their advise and its under warranty your covered.

Is the scope under warranty? if so send it in to have it checked out.

+radians become -radians when you pass 180 or 0 degrees. if a mount has +-0.25 degree pointing accuracy and you point it at the meridian you cant know if its + radians or the - radians you just cant because of the mounts physical limitations. I see mechanical and software engineers argue the other is the problem at work (nothing to do with telescopes). The answer is more money or avoiding the problem not syncing near the merdian.

Look up radians and what happens at the equivalent of 180 degrees. Considering a mount inaccuracy of a degree and the problem with radians at 180 becomes clear. Computers like to calculate angles in radians. So things can get messy when your not sure which side of the line your on. This problem is true for both axis but the meridian is the one that's constantly being crossed. Its a great problem and the math is quite fun. I first got to grips with radians programming a 3D spinning sphere on an Acorn Electron forty years ago continued to do so for work on and off ever since. I remain a fan of all things spherical. Theres a doc on this for EQMOD its a good read and watching the model calc and track the mount is good fun. A bit like lifting the bonnet and watching the wheels turn EQMOD - 1-Star, 2-Star, 3-STAR, N-Star Alignment Tutorial eqmod.sourceforge.net/docs/eqmod_alignment_models.pdf

An easy way forward is try using it during the day on some far off roof tops this will give you a chance to familiarise your self with the telescope. Don't point it at the sun (as if there was any chance of seeing that)

I cut a hole in the plastic lid from something (was many years ago) think it was off a tube of pringels and pushed it on. Worked a treat!

Elon Musk SpaceX rocket on collision course with moon - BBC News Would be fun if this was visible at the time but its unlikely given a new moon. Would be worth looking for a giggle at Mr Musk's expense.

it could be anything really so so find out you would need to disassemble it. If it works ok dont worry about it.

what you will be best of doing is finding the right camera and find an adapter or combination of for the lenses you currently have. You can couple most things but obtaining the correct spacing will be the problem. FLO have a great section of such things as do Telescope Service. For example I bought a 4/3 samyang 84mm when the price was cheap of amazon took the 4/3 plate off put on Astro Essentials Samyang Lens to M48 Adapter M48 to canon EF adapter Astro Essentials Canon EF Lens to T2 Adapter for Baader 1.25" / T2 Eyepiece Holder Which all cost me less than a samyang 84mm with a Canon EF fitting.

No purpose. But that's the same bloke who used to work at Soyuz, got sacked from there for drilling random holes in stuff as well. Tuff to find a job after that I guess no one cares much about it at Synta which is why he's now working there..

You'll probably need to jump up a class or two of mount to keep that 140 pointing in the same place for any length of time given its longer focal length and image scale. But that's not to say you couldn't try. Which is the only true way of knowing.

Stick a silver parasol under it and it you could almost pass it off as the James Webb.