Ibbo! Posted October 3, 2012 Share Posted October 3, 2012 What were you doing?3-10-1972 I had just bought my first proper telescope a 4" Charles Frank Saturn with 1 eyepiece giving x31 it cost me £4the following night I got first light it was Jupiter.I still have the main mirror and was wanting to retube it for the ruby anniversary on the 4th so tomorrows job is get on with it.how I laughed at the sighting arrangement 2 bits of stick really,were amazed at the views with the upgrade of eyepiece (a 1/2 " Ramsden) and stood in absolute panic as the telescope fell off the rickety table and the precious mirror rolled down the pavement.In school I made an equatorial mount for it metalwork(wish I could find it) is helped for my coursework in 2 exams Metalwork of course and my pride and joy a GSC O Level in Astronomy in 1975.As more telescopes were purchased the old 4 got neglected and if I remember correctly last used as a finder for the huge 8" f13 reflector.despite its bumps and bruises this mirror has not been recoated in its lifetime and will hopefully will see starlight again very soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simon Posted October 3, 2012 Share Posted October 3, 2012 i was 3yrs old just about to start nursery. lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firstscope Posted October 3, 2012 Share Posted October 3, 2012 my dad was 8 and getting ready to celebrate his 9th birthday on the 7th n my mum was 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yeti monster Posted October 4, 2012 Share Posted October 4, 2012 It is quite possible that that was the time my elder brother got his telescope, a proper Tasco refractor, he showed me M-42, but sadly I didn't understand what it was that I was seeing.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ibbo! Posted October 4, 2012 Author Share Posted October 4, 2012 Now you are making me feel old Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sologuitarist61 Posted October 4, 2012 Share Posted October 4, 2012 Blimey, I was 25 years old then - where does the time go? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbie c Posted October 4, 2012 Share Posted October 4, 2012 I'd just started work and still in the same trade now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hypernova Posted October 4, 2012 Share Posted October 4, 2012 Most likely nothing, I still had 19 1/2 years to go before I'd be born Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeSkywatcher Posted October 4, 2012 Share Posted October 4, 2012 I cant remember back that far. I was too young to remember anyways. I wasn't born til 1974. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul schofield Posted October 4, 2012 Share Posted October 4, 2012 I was 2 years old, so probably getting my nappy changed and giving my mother hell, ha ha. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu Posted October 4, 2012 Share Posted October 4, 2012 ....I was 2 and 3/4, or there abouts . Hadn't really thought about stars yetStu Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Treeden Posted October 4, 2012 Share Posted October 4, 2012 ... despite its bumps and bruises this mirror has not been recoated in its lifetime and will hopefully will see starlight again very soon. That's a nice story Apparently there are still the odd one or two knocking about. This advert made me smile.... "we found it in a Scout hall during a clearing out." I can just imagine the young scouts queuing impatiently for their turn to take their first look through a real telescope! I wonder how many of them went on to become astronomers?Good luck with the restoration. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Claire Posted October 4, 2012 Share Posted October 4, 2012 My parents had just turned 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ibbo! Posted October 5, 2012 Author Share Posted October 5, 2012 Treeden thanks for the image thats how it lookedonly the main mirror left now though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RikM Posted October 5, 2012 Share Posted October 5, 2012 40 years ago today, I was just being born Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pajr777 Posted October 5, 2012 Share Posted October 5, 2012 40 years ago today, I was just being born Happy birthday Rik Oct 1972 I had just started junior school. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Photosbykev Posted October 5, 2012 Share Posted October 5, 2012 I was 14 years old, just getting into photography and building model railways. I gave up the model railways for girls a little bit later Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Sailor Posted October 5, 2012 Share Posted October 5, 2012 I had just been posted to West Berlin and the barracks was just across the road from Spandau Prison, a two year posting in a fantastic city. I was living in private accommodation just off the Kurfürstendamm and enjoyed life to the full. The only intrusion in that life was work and plenty of it, train guard on the British Military Train from Berlin to Helmstedt, guarding Rudolf Hess in Spandau Prison and all the other duties associated with a posting there. Sport was sailing on the Harvel and swimming in the Olympic Stadium and orienteering around the Grunewald Forest. Visits to East Berlin was a must and a Sunday stroll along the 17th of June Street, to the Siegessäule, past the Soviet War Memorial to the Brandenburg Gate and a look over the wall into the East, all in all a nice time Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuzzBomb Posted October 5, 2012 Share Posted October 5, 2012 My planet had just been invaded by the Kraags and I was on my way to earth in an escape pod, shaped like an egg...Seriously, I was also just about 2 at that point but your story is great. Good luck with refurbing the scope. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beulah Posted October 5, 2012 Share Posted October 5, 2012 I had literally just been concieved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AstroTux Posted October 5, 2012 Share Posted October 5, 2012 I had just been bitten by the bug ( aged 16 ) and was probably standing in our front garden looking through my cheapo Prinz 2" refractor at Jupiter.How the time flies......................... :grin: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freeflyjay Posted October 5, 2012 Share Posted October 5, 2012 i was 11 months old so probably deficating in my pants and crying alot, give it another 40 years i may well be back to that stage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wookie1965 Posted October 5, 2012 Share Posted October 5, 2012 I was 7 yrs old and looking at the moon i remember watching the moon landing in 1969 with my grandad he got me into this hobby. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveA Posted October 5, 2012 Share Posted October 5, 2012 Born in 58 then ?....definately a vintage year (though I'm biased!)I was probably trying to persuade my parents to by me a telescope for my birthday in November. Though my ambitions were rather conservative in those days.I eventualy received a 2" table top refractor, which I have to say was pretty useless. It wasn't until a couple of years later that I got a "real" telescope, a 3" refractor on a GEM mount. It came from Dixons and although at the time it was my pride and joy, looking back on it...it wasn't really that good either! Back in those days there really wasn't anything decent available in the UK . I remember looking at the occasional copy of Sky & Telescope that I managed to get hold of (again..even this was difficult to come by)..I used to dream of one day owning a Celestron SCT...I seem to remember that at the time even in the USA these retailed for many thousands of pounds..It really is amasing how things have changed and how spolit we are now for good quality and reasonably priced equipment.Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Velvet Posted October 5, 2012 Share Posted October 5, 2012 Hi Ibbo, i was about the age that every parent hates, just teenager. Not very pleasant for them, was not exactly a perfect child.Congrats and may there be many more years of astro for you.Velvet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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