Moonshed

The Japanese Hayabusa-2 capsule has successfully returned a sample from the asteroid Ryugu and parachuted it down to earth near Woomera, South Australia on Saturday. This is a truly remarkable achievement with the spacecraft having spent nearly a year investigating Ryugu before returning to Earth. The samples should yield valuable information about the formation of the early Solar System. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-55201662 The technology involved to ensure success in not only landing on a remote asteroid but gathering samples and returning them to Earth is really cutting edge stuff, such an audacious and successful mission deserves the recognition it receives. The thought that crossed my mind is wondering if this mission is technically, and I repeat technically, more of an achievement than the Apollo missions in putting a man on the a moon. Do other members have any thoughts on this, or is it just me being cooped up too long thanks to COVID? I sometimes get myself wondering about so many things I tend to end up not knowing my elbow from my eyepiece. Keith

Indeed a remarkable achievement, in fact I can’t help wondering how it compares in terms of technical achievement with the Apollo missions.

Hi Dave, thanks for the info, I’m pretty sure that’s the same year I bought my 4” Newtonian. I seem to remember that the delays in meeting the orders was due to the huge demand created by Sky at Night promoting that special offer. It was a great little scope, cheap and cheerful.

Hi Alan, it must have been quiet a spectacle, I haven’t seen any but would love to, as long as they didn’t mess up any subs lol. Keith

I also went to comprehensive school but unfortunately no telescope there, the only thing we could look through was dirty windows. You mention how the Apollo missions gave you an interest in space, and no wonder, that period in the 60’s with the so called space race against the Russians was without doubt the most exciting, eventful, action packed period in space exploration to this day. The dreams those lunar landings inspired, moon bases, humans on Mars by 1990, manned exploration of the solar system and so on, and then the bubble burst and reality and budget restraints returned, and not forgetting the Vietnam war of course. Still, at least we have Elon Musk to carry our dreams now, and he may just be the man to do it. Keith

Hi Alan, I am genuinely surprised at the number of members who have said they bought a scope from Charles Frank, I suppose it’s because back in the day most scopes purchased in the UK were made in the UK and Frank’s was a substantial telescope manufacturer in Glasgow then. I moved up to Glasgow in 1990 from the London area and after having lovingly kept Frank’s Book of the Telescope since around 1960 I couldn’t resist calling in to see them. I was so disappointed! It was by then only a small workshop in a larger building where a single guy was repairing rifle scopes and red dot finders and the like, telescope manufacturing had long since stopped. I was gutted, silly I know, but that name had meant so much to me for so many years, I bought my first scope from them. Such a shame to see these once great manufacturers close down.

My dear old mum had one of those for as long as I can remember, it was amazing the things she could run up on it. Back in those days many types of machines were made using cast iron and they were ornate, today it’s all aluminium lightweight materials made as plain as possible, maybe because of lack of structural strength?

I am happy for you, honestly I am, really I am, so happy happy happy, and not even a tensie wensie bit envious, not at all, not a bit, not a shred, not even the smallest, littlest, titchy wichy bit.

Hi Rob, I am amazed that members are not only saying they once had the book but that they still have it. Yes, it really is a smashing little book, I would never part with it and as you say most of it is still as relevant today as it was back in the day. As for the recommended 6” F8 Newtonian, yes, a good choice indeed, takes me back to my early days peering at the sky through my 4” Newtonian and not a blasted camera to be seen 😄 it was all so much simpler and more enjoyable then. I sometimes wonder why I went in astrophotography because apart from a few 2nd rate images I get so much frustration and so little observing. Maybe time for a rethink.

Ah yes, Cromer’s second hand book shops, I loved to rummage around in them pre Covid, I could easily spend all day in them. But it’s only a 20 minute drive away so I will return soon, hopefully. I take your point about the 6” reflector being a big gun in those days, it certainly was, how things have changed!

You were a very lucky girl back then, but you already know that. Paying £600 for a dome in 1975 would in today’s money be £5000, makes you think! I am fortunate in that I have a dedicated shed for my telescope, hence my Moonshed name - thank you grandchildren - and with its double doors I am able to lift out my scope onto a concrete apron ready to go. But a dome would be perfection! Do you have a dome now?

Wow, that’s a long reflector, bet it was a brilliant scope. That mount looks like it’s made of cast iron, must have weighed a ton! How on earth did you manage to lift it?

Your school had a telescope! In an observatory! My goodness you must have gone to a very posh school. I love those old illustration in Sam Brown’s book, just brilliant!

Hi Nigella, I saw this in the book, looks like it is same as the one you had, only much longer, is that only because of perspective? It’s a big beast isn’t it? I love the way the Frank’s name is built into the mount, you couldn’t miss it.

It’s no use you explaining science stuff about volume, mass and gravity when all folks want to see is happy skygrazer families floating about in the alien atmosphere having a truly wonderful time, you’re only being a spoil sport. 🚀 😂

Oooooooh, I must put that on my Santa List. It’s marvellous what they can do today.

It’s events such as this that get the UFO brigade going into overdrive, and not forgetting of course those poor abductees and the horrors they went through. Yeah, must have been awful, apart from the tour round the galaxy bit lol.

Sea of Tranquility. (We really do need to get out more!)

I was about the same age as you when I bought mine, I was born in 1946 and think I bought it between 1960-62. I can well imagine yours cost a lot of money in those days but mine was relatively cheap, still took a lot of saving up though. Keith

Hi Dave, You are the only other person I know that bought that reflector from Charles Frank and got the free book. Can you remember the year? I think it was 1962. I can’t remember what I paid for it but £16 popped into my head. I kept that scope for about 15 years and then gave it to a budding astronomer. It was cheap, the main mirror was held in place by basically a bicycle clip that held it against a couple of stops. It had a rubber bung glued to the centre so you could hold it while removing the bicycle clip and removing the mirror for cleaning. It was as basic as they come but it worked just fine and got me started in astronomy all those years ago.

I bought my first telescope, a 4” reflector, from Charles Frank of Glasgow as a special offer in conjunction with The Sky at Night, I’m really not sure when exactly but it must have been in the early to mid ‘60’s. Along with the telescope they included a free book, “Frank’s Book of the Telescope”, the first edition of which was printed in Glasgow in 1958. It’s a lovely book, covering such things as war surplus telescopes, light and the function of the lens, what to expect from the telescope and how to make and mount them, and lots more. I found it fascinating, it even included a section on guiding and attaching a camera that I found interesting, it explained how you could photograph stars! It took me until 1992, about 30 years later, to take my first photographs of the stars using a film camera, it was challenging because you had no idea how they would turn out until you got your prints back from Bonus Print 2 weeks later! I couldn’t resist showing a couple of pages from the book with diagrams on how to construct and mount telescopes. How times have changed, but they still work as well today as they did then. Keith

Thanks for the info, I wasn’t aware of that before and It’s definitely a big step in the right direction, but at a cost of well over a £1,000 I’m not tempted, I’ll stick with my monochrome image and think what else to spend my imaginary thousand on. Nice image though I have to say.

All I can add Shaun is that I first took up astronomy 60 years ago and the scope I use today I bought second hand 30 years ago for £1250 including an ancient driven mount and a couple of eyepieces and bits and pieces. My biggest single expenditure since has been my EQ5 GOTO mount costing £500 in 2014. I purchased a second hand Canon 1100D body three years ago which I used to start me off in astrophotography and last month I added a ZWO camera for £225 so I could capture images of Mars. With this fairly modest equipment, by some standards, I have been able to take some not too shabby images of Mars with the ZWO, and with my Canon the Andromeda Galaxy, the Orion Nebula, Triangulum Galaxy, Whirpool Galaxy and a few others. My point is you do not have to lay out shed loads of cash to get started, even into astrophotography, you can add to your kit bit by bit as your experience grows, and it enables you to spread the load over a number of years. I would suggest only a small percentage of members have been able to start off with exactly the gear they wanted, the vast majority of us - I would guess - have only so much disposable income and my wife likes to get her hands on it too, god knows why because she just isn’t into astronomy at all, lol. Keith

Daytime astronomy definitely does have appeal. have a solar filter I use when there are any sunspots to observe but must admit that seeing the sun in monochrome is such a let down when compared to what can be seen when using the appropriate gear, it gives me massive colour envy because I can’t see red! EDIT: I can of course see the colour red, it was a joke playing on the fact I couldn’t see red through my solar filter and that made me see red, if you see what I mean?

I would say your advice is good if the person that asked could afford a £2000 mount and they were without doubt going to take up astrophotography at some point, but the OP has already said they have a limited budget. Now even if they somehow managed to raise that much money I’m not at all sure that would be a good buy for someone quiet new to astronomy who intends trying it out by observing from an upstairs spare room. It has to be considered that under such unfavourable conditions there is a good chance interest would quickly wane to the point of collecting dust. Surely it would make more sense not to invest too heavily when buying gear at this stage but instead buy cheap and see how it goes, if it doesn’t work out then not a lot of money is lost, plus it could easily be sold to new beginners. If it does work out then with the experience gained, and a decision made regarding moving out doors and starting astrophotography, then is the right time to invest in a good mount.