Jump to content

Banner.jpg.b83b14cd4142fe10848741bb2a14c66b.jpg

Hi there.

Sir-Henry

By Sir-Henry
in Welcome

Recommended Posts

Sir-Henry

Sir-Henry

Posted
Posted

First off please excuse the moniker, but he's one of my heroes. An ordinary working man who originated the ethos which resulted in the finest motor car in .... (long Jezza pause) ... the world! :cool:

I've had more than a passing interest in the heavens for more years (?decades?) than I care to recall. First with my Mk1 eyeballs, later through binoculars of varying quality and magnification/light gathering ability and more recently a couple of reflector scopes. The largest binocs I ever had were 35X70. What a weight! I would hold them up to my eyes, bend back as far as possible and still be looking at my shoes .... :rolleyes:  Flogged them off to a 2nd hand shop many years ago. Obviously I've followed "The Sky at Night" for as long as I can remember - about 2 weeks these days :p  Nah! Since before the first Moon landings. Like many of my peers I stayed up late to follow the blow-by-blow description and grainy pictures as they came (in monochrome) via the BBC direct from Mission Control in Houston. I also worried like most of the world as we followed the trials of the occupants of the almost ill-fated Apollo XIII. Unless you were there you cannot understand the wait for the Command Module and Lunar Lander to pass through the radio blackout as it went around the 'Dark Side' of the Moon. The film helps a little, but as you get to see & hear the astronauts through just about every minute of that transit the flavour of the moment is lost.

The first reflector I bought is a "Science Museum Magnum power" with a 2.99" mirror bought from a car boot for £20 and more recently a Tasco Lumionova 900mm with a 4.5" mirror bought from a local junk market for the princely sum of £15! Obviously not every last component came with this scope, but some of the ones from the Magnum fit and appear to work nicely. The finder scope is the most obvious being over twice the length, having a better double saddle mount and is a decent(ish) 6X25. I still need to source or make a balance bar and weights to use the damn thing - and then align it with Polaris, which is a PITA as my back garden faces almost due South and virtually every other point of the compass is severly affected by light pollution. At least I get more than decent views of the Moon.

So on to the personal stuff. I'm a widower of some 6+ decades with virtually all my own hair and most of my original teethof which only a couple of them are now like stars (come out at night). As my interests also include cars (3 and counting) and club meets where we go camping for long weekends and being solely dependent on government benefits I have little cash to spare, but at least my ... er ... brain (?) works and I can make or modify a lot of things I can't afford to buy.

OK, so not everyone on this forum is particularly enamoured of Tasco scopes in general or the Luminova in particular. However it suits my pocket and, at least for now, suits my needs. Especially as it's fairly easily transported for fieldwork in any of my cars - even when towing my Dandy folding camper and (at least in my 8-seater MPV) carrying my mobility scooter.

In the coming days, weeks, months even I will be picking your brains for hints & tips on how to make the best of my situation and equipment, but I'll leave that to the relevent sections of the forum.

Live long and prosper alien_greetings.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.