Alan White

I had a pleasant surprise today. DPD turned up with a rather heavy box. It contained my set of Lunar Cognita from Springer in Germany. Very please indeed, very detailed, will keep me happy for years just reading it. No picture - you all know what the set looks like. Oh yes and a number of parcels from Screwfix, Toolstation and Electrical supplier. Some for the Astro Project, some for the Garage and some for my Camper Van. Guess what, Screwfix sent a load of plastic surface boxes in jiffy bag and surprise, surpris (no Cilla here) they are all smashed!

Learning point from today: Do not leave your mixer at the back of the garage and then fill with project materials and treasure. It takes a very long time to dig through, sort and sift the wheat from the chaff! My back and shoulders are killing me now, and no holes or mixing even started! But another step closer to my desired pier at home 😀

Or a Skywatcher vixen rail, that’s green? 😂

Thanks for the “help” Ed 😂, All is good and approved, no mistake for another scope, it was greeted with “oh”. I don’t think my mention of a new mount or hanging two scopes in the future enhanced the moment though 😁 but I have taken the oh as full approval.

Sadly not a direction for low from home for me, so loved the images. 👍👍👍

Well materials ordered, now number 150 in the delivery queue, so Thursday 30th latest. Wood, Ballast, Cement etc. Oh and the duct arrived a week earlier than stated, Mrs W. Has not seen it yet. 🤞 Image of it rested in place, it's off due to the pads wonkyness.

Thanks Knobby, helpful. I had thought about a 'Todmordon' pier, but want something tall for refractor and future proof. So cast it is.

Hello Jon, Welcome to SGL and this very fine hobby of ours. Many an hour can be spent under an Essex sky observing and enjoying the Solar Ststem and beyond. I am an Essex boy too, so hello from Thundersley.

And a very nice job the lads made of making one into a pier, it held an AZ100 rather well at the IAS. Sadly in my quest to keep money building for a new mount, the pier and associated is driven by budget. So any steel pier is off the table, but a solution has been found. I am going to cast a 10" concrete one within some vent duct, with a brake disc top. Total expected cost abou £130. See my Observing Area Build thread for progress. Thanks for all the input from everyone. It has helped cement 🤣(boom, boom) my decision! or perhaps not........ Factor in the stainless rods, nuts bolts and more bits and suddenly its over £200 on a concrete pier!

Your light issues sound very familiar Samantha, see my thread on my more solid solution. I was lucky enough to have enough room to do this of course. A temporary screen rather than a tent might also work. Local light pollution is such a blight to the Astronomy community. Good luck with whatever you decide to do, anything will be an improvement, even a monks hood to keep the light from your peripheral vision.

Hello to you as well Dave. That's made me chuckle .....''sorry about the GPDX'', what's to be sorry about. Out of interest, how did it handle the f15?

I know this is Dave1's eyepiece thread, but where did that GPDX sneak in from Dave F15Rules? As to nice simple older glass, well that is a rabbit hole (that you have fallen down with a thump) and like all things astro make get a touch expensive. But a nice affliction to have after all. @Dave1, nice to see back about and astronomising; at one point I thought we might lose you, glad you are out and about....or not as to speak atb present.

Glad you got a good session in Mark, sounds like it was most rewarding. I did go out and watch the Starlinks being deployed, but was so tired from work stress that I did no more. The sofa last night had my name written upon it. I was due to go to the CPAC weekly meeting online, but the laptop decided it needed 2 hours of windows updates at the wrong moment!

I would go HEQ5 Pro with belt mod, they are renown for good performance and well documented and supported. Far more so than the AVX, however that is a good mount and well liked, you know that though anyway.

Nice to see that fine observatory being used and you getting such fine results.

What other EP do you have? What are you wanting to look at with the addition of a new EP at about 130x magnification? If your scope is 2000mm FL as I think it is?? OK edite from here: As others are just voting, Vixen NPL. Good optics, Good Price, with a driven mount FOV in my view is irrelevant.

Hi Dave, so thick base, 8 gussets at plate base junction, do you suggest the gussets at low level or all the way up like the long standing Pulsar design? The bollard pier you had for display, I take it was just to show the mount and not one to use?

Well quite something indeed, thanks for the heads up. A live launch, pass overhead and watched satellites launching, amazing sight for now... but of course another batch of the darned things!

So looking at other Piers, the Pulsar one. @FLO shows a picture with a solid top, Pulsar show one with a hole, which is the present version? FLO picture

Thanks Fozzie, hope the cloud keeps away, have a thin area creeping in from the West. Hope to catch a glimpse.

Thanks Jeremy and your colleagues, enjoyed it and has whetted the appetite. It did not go over my head, so thanks for where it was pitched. I will have a read on the BAA section.

No can do the Zoom option as banned from it via work and my machine is used for work too. So will be the YouTube option for me.

Well, I have moved from a possible customer to the we will call you before the end of the week for your order.... 🤞

That certainly looks wrong to me Stu. But if it is @michael.h.f.wilkinson, please report in.

Thanks for the response, good luck with it tonight. Wonderful stuff at level pitched. I will tune in later, looking forward to it.