Sunshine

Help me identify! It is In wonderful condition and the mount works well. Has accessories, diagonal amd what seems like a very heavy barlow.

Incredible!! It's huge!

Oh don’t do this to me, now you’ve got me all charged up, I’m a double famatic and am up for any challenge even if it is well beyond my scopes. My 128 is outside cooling, I will certainly strain my eyes to the point of myopia but it’s all worth it.

Hello Andy and welcome! 
 

You need not worry about loosing out having sold your 10” If weight is an issue you can always get an 8” dob or even a quality 100-120mm refractor. You may be surprised when looking through a good refractor.

15 minutes ago, mikeDnight said:

I'm only thinking of your street cred'!

He has to sell it, now.

Welcome to SGL! and yes, this can be an expensive hobby but the good news is you don’t have to break the bank to enjoy it just as much as anyone else. When starting off we have all got caught up in the notion that we need this and that straight away. You have the scope, just two or three modest eyepieces will get set you off on a great start.

1 hour ago, mikeDnight said:

NO!!!  You definitely need the Tak 2" diagonal and forget all this Televue nonsense. 😁

The Tak diagonal isn't this mediocre dielectric rubbish that thins towards the edge of the mirror; the Tak 2" is a beautiful  10th wave aluminium coated beauty. And it's a chunk! That beautiful Tak badge is worth the price alone, and as long as you don't let anyone but yourself look through it, you'll perpetuate the Mystery. 

I had one with my FS152 and loved it!

 

 

Why the long extension before the diagonal, did you use bino viewers on the 128? 

Good to know, I’d rather spend on something more beneficial than a blue circle, I can paint a blue dot on my TV for a lot less 😅

This Tak diagonal looks great, but do I need it? my eyepieces are all 1.25 and I am using a TV everbrite at the moment. Either talk me out of this or encourage me to buy it 😄 on the positive side, I can get it for half retail. If I said the main reason for my liking it so much is the blue accent would go great with the blue on my FS128 would you think I’m being ridiculous? or just another amateur astronomer looking for any excuse for an accessory.

14 hours ago, Mr Spock said:

My garden is in darkness, but if I were the neighbours opposite I'd have something to say about this.

 

That is ridiculous! do they host football matches in their gardens at night? totally unnecessary.

21 minutes ago, bingevader said:

When the children in school say, "But what's the difference?!"

I just say, "One is science, the other is made up."  

I like the word “balogne” lol

4 hours ago, Chaz2b said:

I have new neighbours, a young couple with two baby girls and a dog, the girls do not stop crying, which isn't good for them, and the dog barks at the slightest provocation. We live in flats and I've already mentioned to them that these flats aren't very sound proof, plus...she keeps her kitchen light on allllll night, which over looks where I set up. I can't sleep I can't enjoy my hobby.

Chaz

Oh I do wish I lived on the other sides of your horrible neighbors!, my wife will be the first to say how I do love a good all out war with inconsiderate neighbors. Not so much that I am a troublemaker about crying babies and things which cannot be helped but plain old bullies and inconsiderate people, I revere the tables doubly till they move! In my previous home when I first moved in there was a house across the street which somehow was used as a party house for drunken teens puking on lawns and causing all sorts of ruckus at all hours. My wife dreaded my response, long story short, the house was for sale two months later, the’d had enough of me out there chasing them around, stick in hand. 😂

2 hours ago, Vallantho said:

On  one side I’ve got wonderful neighbours. They’re older, love peace and quiet. The woman is a retired nurse. I have my mother with advanced dementia here and she’s always on hand to offer help, advice and support whenever we need it.  The husband helps me with my garden, takes an interest in my various hobbies and we regularly chat about whatever projects we’re working on.

The other side…not so much. Constantly barking dogs. A hot tub that plays ridiculously loud music and four teenage daughters with no concept of reasonable volume. The dad is bully who likes to think he’s the big man around town and can tell everyone in the street what to do. The only big thing about him is his waistline. He actually tried to tell me not to go in my garden at night because it makes his dogs bark and woke him up. When he was building an extension he dumped all the dirt from the foundations on my driveway without permission. 

I could go on.  But just thinking about him makes me angry. So there’s British neighbours and then there’s British neighbours.  Be aware of the difference.

Ooh! let me rephrase, I did not mean to say that only British neighbors are pleasant and caring, just my attempt at humor, my apologies if it came across wrong, intended as tongue and cheek humor.

Amateur astronomer rings nice, though some have referred to me as an amateur astrologer which annoys me to no end. 😁

Welcome back!

Beautiful!!

2 hours ago, Marvin Jenkins said:

I would insist on the lighting if I were you.

Don’t need to insist, they volunteered to turn them off, very nice of them.

Yesterday my wife and I went for a walk by the shore, we ran into a wonderful couple who live in the home directly behind our home, our back gardens are separated by a fence and shey have a string of very warm and dim lights hanging on her pergola. These lights are never an issue for my sessions as they are very dim and barely reflect a glow off her home, aside from that, I cannot see them when sitting at my scope. We spoke for a moment and  she expressed curiosity about my being out with my scope once in a while (she can clearly see me from her windows) mentioning she has always wondered about the night sky, she said growing up in England near London she could never see many stars. Without a moment’s pause I said she is more than welcome to have a look through my scope if she notices I’m out there, she will definitely do that, she said. What really caught me bu surprise was her next sentence which I will write, verbatim…”are my string lights an issue when you’re out there? if so I will gladly turn them off while you’re outside, take my number and text lights off please and they’ll come off immediately” 

Oh my! before I could tell her that the lights really aren’t an issue she offered and later insisted I let her know when I intend on being outside so she can switch off her lights, all said in the most lovely British accent. Oh my gosh! what a wonderful and considerate offer! a few moments later we continued on our walks, what a wonderful person, she had light pollution in mind and she admittedly never really looked through a telescope, amazing! 

5 minutes ago, John said:

I ought to re-phrase this for the sake of historical cleanliness - I used to drool near the Vixen 4 inch refractors, not actually over them, of course 🙄

(just in case anyone who later bought one is reading this !)

You don’t need to hide it, we have tripod sniffers, eyepiece suckers, feather touch fondlers, and handle lovers, a telescope drooler is most welcome.

5 hours ago, Mr Spock said:

Oh, and touching. I love playing with my Feathertouch 

Me too, I love touching feathers!

There’s something about the look of Vixen scopes I always liked, they have that simplistic yet elegant look, hard to explain but you can see the quality in them.

Nice lens! if the telescope doesn’t work out for whatever reason, I bet you could ignite a woodpile very quickly with that lens 😅

I’m not a subscriber to the terraforming idea, Mars is the way it is due to millions of years and countless variables. Thinking we can somehow change that in some way which will be sustainable is a stretch of the imagination, at best. Even if we could somehow affect Mars in such a way to benefit us, it will be a constant struggle against those forces which made mars the way it is. We can introduce whatever gases we want but they’ll just end up stripping back into space, same with anything else we do, it would be a futile, loosing battle to reverse a process which is not understood to begin with.

If I had a permanent spot for a 180 refractor I would love one. Can’t imagine lifting one on and off a mount for a session, especially under Nortle 4 skies.

3 minutes ago, Deadlake said:

@DirkSteele told me his 180 mm was around £1000 a view as it does not get out much. 😀

So from consensus around 180 mm is the larger limit in the UK?

Oh wow, you barely use it?