It has been brought to my attention....

[Tim]

That it is possible that my posts, long winded and verbose as they are, may actually be a thinly veiled attempt at trolling this friendly little fraternity.

Sorry about that.

Despite appearances I have tonight emailed several reputable astronomy suppliers with a view to getting the best prices for the kit you have all steered me towards.

Namely;

HEQ5 with GOTO

8" SCT OTA

eyepiece/barlow set

dew prevention stuff

If said retailers can put together a sensible deal then i shall very soon be swapping time spent posting on astro forums about hot tubs for time spent cooling down equipment in preparation for a night with the stars. (A more showbiz name for the forum would be "Stars in their eyes".)

I currently view the sky through either 10x50 binos or my 16x60 rifle scope (neighbours must think im shooting at owls). All my naked eye stuff is either spent lying on my back on my new limestone patio (very cold, hard to fall asleep), or in my Sundance Spa, floating in 37 degree weightlessness (very warm, hard to fall asleep without drowning). Pics of my 'observatory' can be found here http://www.btinternet.com/~mr.squeegee/Tub/

In fact, in a roundabout way, (big roundabout, think M25, (the motorway, not the open cluster in sagittarius)), the fabulous images by the legend we all know as SteveL, maybe wouldn't have been available if it wasn't for me and my friend for years 'G', who I dragged screaming into another newsgroup, and who was the catalyst to get Steve's Meade scope out of the attic, and the rest, as they say, is on Steve's astroblog. I'm sure Steve can vouch for the fact that I am for real, just last week he was showing me how to turn a simple looking pic of a star field into that stunning shot of the horsehead do-daa.

So again, apologies if my exuberant style has misted up some of your lenses, i'm sure we can have some fun together. In fact I can hardly wait for my first pic submission, just hope it doesn't have too many splashes on..........

Cheers all

TJ

[MartinB]

Can't be too exuberant for me TJ - keep it up.

[Tiny]

Well done that man!

[Whippy]

S'all good mate. Don't forget that the only stupid question is the one you didn't ask.

Tony..

[jonifive]

Nice Tiger!!!!!

JV

[Tim]

yeh, was taking it for a walk.

1982.