Sunshine

Welcome to SGL! You can really surprise yourself with what can be done simply holding the phone to the eyepiece without a dedicated eyepiece mount, I have spent many nights perfecting it as I love a good challenge. The image below was taken using just that simple method using my index and thumb finger forming a ring around the top of the eyepiece where the phone rested, it takes a while to get alignment right but it works with practice, thanks for joining us!.

45 minutes ago, cajen2 said:

Oh, now you've done it - every Tak owner on here will post pics and it'll become another "I've got a Tak" thread....😄

We promise that won’t happen, not the thread I intended.

3 hours ago, markse68 said:

I want one of these just for its looks- mount and all

Mark

my eyes struggle with reading the decals but this just screams Tak, I have no idea what model this is but I agree it looks really nice!

How about we put aside specs like focal lengths, blazing fast optics and exotic glass but instead focus on esthetics. Sometimes telescopes can be underperformers but have esthetics going for them, yet some are stellar performers and not so pretty to look at. Through the years I have had a few telescopes and regardless of their optical prowess some have burnt themselves into my memory based on their appearance. One such scope is the 8” LX200 with it’s deep blue finish and impressive stance with those beefy fork arms, a scope which  looks impressive enough to be displayed in one’s home to ooh and awe visitors, a beautiful scope in my opinion. If my TSA-102 is a surgical instrument the LX200 is the battle tank which looks like it means business, I miss that scope more for it’s appearance than I do for it’s optical attributes if I dare say. Not that there is anything wrong with it’s performance but I happened to own it when I was so absorbed with work that I spent more time looking at it than through it. Are there any particular scopes which you find irresistible as merely objects of beauty? whether you had one or not, I would love to see!. 

29 minutes ago, Nigella Bryant said:

Another Mars session this evening and Jupiter thrown in before it got to low and my hedge gets in the way. Can't believe how clear it was despite the challenging cloud's zipping by. Dome nicely illuminated by a street light before they all go out at midnight, lol. 

Your dome shots top themselves every time, it’s beautiful!

This gave me a lump in my throat as Carl Sagan with Cosmos sparked my love for everything astronomy as a child. This observatory is a proposal and no funding has been secured but the paper trail has started and who knows? maybe in 2034 on Carl Sagan's hundredth birthday we may have a new space observatory, a fitting honor. Than again, this is NASA timelines we’re talking about so laugh date will be closer to his two hundredth birthday, I won’t live to see it. 🥲

26 minutes ago, wimvb said:

Tonight was a night of surprises:

1. A gap in the cloud cover

2. a few snow flakes on the corrector of my Mak-Newt when I closed the roof of my observatory

3. Two winter guests

I don’t know how these two lacewings got in my scope, because a Mak-Newt is supposed to be a closed tube design. For the time being, these two critters can stay where they are. Most likely they will die when it gets really cold, and the bodies will end up behind the primary mirror. If I ever get the Feathertouch focuser that I ordered, I will need to open the tube anyway, at which time I will try to remove them.

This is baffling to me, I have seen other posts with bugs inside sealed OTA's unless you left the eyepiece off without a cap in the diagonal then how in the world do bugs get in? leaves me stumped.

It seems we'll have to get you an eyepiece, Nigella! as much as you strain to look through those cameras it just isn't the same 🤣

Nice images with Orion just peeking out over the dome. 

Fairly new, has it’s nuisances which I’ll figure out but overall it has been great optically and don’t get me started on Starsense.

Your full disc sketch just leaps right off the page, it is wonderful! 

11 minutes ago, tooth_dr said:

Thanks, and I agree the 105 is just great, and the only way to make it better was to get a second one 😇

Why have one when you can have two at twice the price! 🤣 

17 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

Maybe adding something like this at Stu Towers for telescope acclimatisation and storage? 
Saw at Powis Castle today.
 

Those are strange bushes/trees? up there above the terrace, they look like green blobs.

Welcome to SGL! I cannot assist you with AP but I'm sure others can, have a great time here!.

4 minutes ago, maw lod qan said:

Congratulations! Keep feeding us poor souls with a 20lb 8" reflector information on this journey you are embarking on.

And I forgot to mention, I am jealous!

Thanks! technically it is a grab and go, I grabbed the wheel and it went! 😂 

A beautiful image! an APM LZOS 105, what a wonderful instrument!

Thank you all! i imagine a swank public event like some sort of fund raiser, there I am moving the telescope wearing a lab coat 😂 it will happen if it’s the last thing I do, One day that image I will post here on this thread 🤣

4 minutes ago, markse68 said:

What a fantastic opportunity! Do you think you’ll get a chance to point it at things of your choice too out of hours?

Mark

May just be! , on that first night we pointed to the moon, Jupiter and Uranus using the setting circles which are literally many feet in diameter lol. there is an eyepiece which is original to the telescope and the DDO also had a second eyepiece custom made from a fellow in the U.S. sadly, seeing was horrible and the mirror needs a cleaning, badly, that is in the works.

Well not exactly my own but hopefully in the next year I’ll be operating it just as much as my own!. It seem the David Dunlap Observatory located just a 20 minute drive from me needs operators for outreach and community events, as a member of the RASC I have expressed interest in volunteering at the DDO which put me on a list of folks they would like to train as operators working in pairs in order to relieve the current two operators who are exhausted.

For those who are not familiar with the DDO, it was built in 1935 and has a 74” mirror, the mount and scope weigh in at 25 tons and as you may guess it is all moved manually. DDO is now a heritage site and is no longer used for research but is actively used for events and outreach, my first introductory session involved things like literally climbing a ladder into the OTA and removing the lens cover sections which are like slices of a pizza and moving/aligning the scope using big metal wheels like one would see in a WWII submarine. One can really feel the weight of the scope when moving it by hand, it was incredible, clutches at my feet released and locked it once I was done moving it, while standing on a narrow ledge, the feeling of nostalgia was heavy. In the coming months I will dedicate many more such nights until the powers that be decide I am good and well to operate the telescope on my own and with a partner all while hosting public events.
 

It will be an exciting few months ahead, I’m ecstatic about the whole thing, I must mention that the DDO is astronomical hallowed ground, at this observatory Thomas Bolton first confirmed the existence of black holes, I urge you to read his story as it a fascinating one and fills me with a sense of pride knowing it happened at the DDO so close to where I live, let alone the fact that I have been given the chance to tell the story to others while operating this fascinating instrument. Of all the things I had to remember that first night and the things I was given a chance to do, the most memorable by far was when I was standing up on the mount on a narrow ledge just barely wide enough for my feet while turning a roughly 18” diameter wheel and feeling the equatorial mount and OTA sway. It  was astounding to me, that I was moving the telescope and watching the end of the OTA move relative to the dome shutters was mind blowing.
 

 https://magazine.utoronto.ca/research-ideas/science/astrophysics-tom-bolton-black-holes-research/

As much as I love refractors I just cant imagine living under a dark sky without an 8" dob, at least!.

A fantastic Mars image!

Welcome to SGL! a big scope while living under dark skies is a dream come true!

2 hours ago, Mr Spock said:

Here's my choice:

A great looking setup!

You cant go wrong with a good 4" refractor, it will be your lifetime scope as it is so versatile. Recently at a star party near me I met the owner of Starfield, he had a few on display and based upon what I saw when I inspected it, it seemed like a very well built unit with a smooth as butter focuser.

8 hours ago, jjohnson3803 said:

Very true IMO.  I'm much more willing to pop outside even when the sky looks quite marginal b/c set-up time is essentially zero.  And the worst case scenario is I get some fresh air.

 

 

Fresh air still exists? 😝