Roy Challen
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Posts posted by Roy Challen
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47 minutes ago, F15Rules said:
I really don't understand why modern mount makers like Skywatcher don't just make a simple design change to allow their manual equatorials to convert to altaz mode..? The cost would be minimal and yet you'd have two mounts for the price of one🤔??
Lovely scope Dave.
It's not just Skywatcher, they're all like that. Even my lovely Tak mount is EQ only. The mount that came with the Prinz 660 I bought from you is EQ/Alt-Az, I fettled it to fit on a Horizon tripod, it works nicely as a grab and go but the 660 is a bit long for it really.
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Damn, my previous post sounds somewhat depressing reading back. Sorry about that.
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13 hours ago, andrew s said:
Like the OP, it has bilpped into existance and will then disappear without trace.
Regards Andrew
Yes, possibly. But it will take so long to do whatever it's going to do that we will never know. So maybe there will be a trace, it's just that we won't be around to see it. That, I think, is the sad part of it all.
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Blimey! It was only on Tuesday that John posted this
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This may be a fake advert, @John reported a very similar one recently. The true value of this scope is way higher than the starting bid. The text is almost word for word the same as in the link below. The pictures are the same.
It may also be genuine...but I doubt it.Nope, it's fake, I'm sure of it. I deleted my ebay account only the other day, so I'm unable to report it. If someone else would be so kind...-
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14 hours ago, wuthton said:
I'm going to politely disagree. Natural selection by it's very nature means that the next generation will be faster, more intelligent and disease resistant with better senses of sight, smell and taste. The direct opposite of the second law.
This definitely doesn't apply to humans.
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A lovely setup Dave! I don't have any fresh photos of mine, but here's a link to a thread I started when I first got my Tak mount.
Everything is clean and working now (has been for ages actually), except for the LCD screen on the control box. I also found a more suitable counterweight. I did refit the original black dew shield though as it better matches the rest of the components.
My garden looked tidier back then too😁
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Hi Rod,
As far as I'm aware, it's a Kenko lens. The scope itself is based on a Prinz 660 which is also 76mm aperture.
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On 08/11/2020 at 13:13, RodAstro said:
Yep I love the Zeiss Orthos I have the full set and two of each for the bino head and a 40mm and a 63mm Zeiss huygens that is fantastic.
I had a few CZJ orthos a little while back, and have to say that they were the best eyepieces I've used in any telescope. And I still have a 25mm Zeiss Huygens, which is a fantastic ep in my f/16 (one of Dave's old scopes!).
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Oh yes, I forgot about the annular eclipse in 2012. My wife and I were on our honeymoon in Japan, we saw the eclipse in Kyoto. That was pretty special. That's what my avatar picture is of!
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3 hours ago, Peter Drew said:
My oldest telescope is a 3" brass refractor by Davis of Cheltenham, circa late 1700's.
You win!
I think my eyes are the oldest astro equipment I have, they're 45 in a couple of weeks.
My Skylight is based on a Prinz 660, so it could be older, but I can't prove it, and my Tak mount is probably mid/late 80s.
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46 minutes ago, Zermelo said:
The 2012 transit of Venus, because I won't see another.
It was 2004 for me, 2012 was clouded out where I was.
Neowise would definitely be a recent highlight.
Number one though, the first time going to a truly, truly dark sky although that wasn't really an event, it felt like one though!
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Had a go early this morning with the bins, the moon was in the worst place possible and only just past full so just washed everything out. I'll be keeping an eye or two on this one though.
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That is very nice indeed.
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Got my first pair of bins from the Tring shop. My brother-in-law has them now. Sad to see DH go, but at least there is still an astro-shop there: Tring Astro, and very good they are too.
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It was only last week that you were angering 'them up there'!
😁
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Like several have already said, 2003 was a vintage Mars year. That opposition was the reason I got my first telescope, a department store special - it was a Bushnell I recall. The optics weren't that bad really, but the mount was. However, I didn't know any better, and I still enjoyed the view. In the intervening years, the scopes I had were decent, but lacking in aperture and f/l, and between 2016 and this year I didn't do much observing. So the best view I've had was last Saturday, through my 100 RS.
The funny thing is I am far more willing to get up at a very unsociable time in order to get a good view now, than I was 17 years ago!
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20 minutes ago, Stu said:
Or, how about the new StellarLyra 6” Classical Cassegrain? This would avoid the cool down issues of a mak and should give great views.
These really are causing a stir, so much so that even I, a long f/l refractor diehard, am seriously tempted. I just need to find something I own that worth enough to sell!
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4 hours ago, Grumpy Martian said:
80 mm Towa 339 refractor. F 15. Always gave pleasing views on all the visible planets and moon. Also easy to setup.
Here's my vote! If it made you happy, and was easy to set up, get another one. You might have to wait a little while but they're not so rare that you'd never see one come up for sale.
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Damn. Shouldn't have looked at this thread!😂
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19 hours ago, Lockie said:
Definitely worth throwing a Classical Cassegrain into the mix for consideration, it could be the best compromise of aperture, contrast, sharpness, and cooling time.
After reading the thread about StellaLyra scopes, I think this definitely sounds possible.
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Hi John,
It does have foil spacers but they don't appear to have moved relative to each other. It was only the flint lens that looked like it had moved as the witness marks from the spacers were about 20-30 degrees offset. Interestingly, on Saturday morning I looked at Mars through both the Skylight and the Tal, and other than the difference in brightness, the views were very similar. I forgot to star test though🤦♂️
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You could also try sending your CV off to the various engineering companies in the UK that build satellites/equipment relating to the space industry.
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9 minutes ago, Stu said:
@Roy Challen did you make sure not to over tighten the the retaining ring? This may cause issues I think, better slightly loose than over done.
I only used hand force when tightening, just enough to stop any rattling.
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Star of Bethlehem ???
in The Astro Lounge
Posted
Tell 'em what they want to hear. Great conjunctions are portents of significant events, this one tells us that a saviour will soon appear to deliver us from the pandemic. When the vaccine finally appears, you can say to your friends: "see, I told you so!"
😉