10 Things I Have Learned in a Year

[Stub Mandrel]

In a few days I will be celebrating my first year of owning a telescope. I'd like to share the ten biggest lessons I have learnt in that time:

1 Mobile phones are bright, really bright.

 

2 Most astronomical accessories are coloured black so that when you lose them in the dark its easy to find them again by treading on them.

 

3 Undo mount locking screw after removing scope. Tighten mount locking screw before attaching scope.

 

4 Car parks that are dark, isolated and off the main route don't only appeal to astronomers.

 

5 Swap the toilet light bulb for a known dud before a session.

 

6 When heading out to a dark site, make sure everyone knows not to put the front door on the latch.

 

7 Geometric transformations include rotation, reflection and translation. A finderscope is a device designed to help you discover new additions to this list.

 

8 "Space is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist, but that's just peanuts to space" is an understatement.

 

9 It's best to clean the dog muck off the patio before it gets dark.

 

10 It doesn't matter what you see or your photos look like. You have seen and done things most people haven't.

[PeterCPC]

You forgot:

Always leave the finderscope turned on at the end of a session.

Peter

[Alien 13]

and Slugs are very fast you think you know where they are and then........

Alan

[scarp15]

Good lessons, quite emphasis with number 9 yet in my case its rabbit droppings.

[Knight of Clear Skies]

Number 7 is a gem.

[Mak the Night]

11 The rechargeable battery in your Pellor red light torch will almost certainly be flat on the best observing nights.

12 Trying to understand exit pupil diameters for the equipment you have and how it applies to any potential target is like studying quantum physics crossed with gibberish.

13 Just when you think you have all the eyepieces you will ever need, you realise that there is one you haven't got that is perfect for what you need.

14 With a manual EQ mount RA is always faster than you realise, regardless of magnification.

15 The dew event horizon will always catch you by surprise.

16 Cloud obscuring the target observed is directly proportional to the length of time it took to set up.

17 Motorised EQ2 mounts don't work.

18 Everything ever written about filters is contradictory.

19 There is no such thing as an inexpensive high quality wide angle eyepiece.

20 When you finally obtain an RACI you will wonder how you found anything at all in the night sky without one.

[Paul73]

How true. How true.

Simarlarly, I have learned....

- Never never observe bare foot.

- Always wear trousers when observing (particularly embarrassing that one....).

- I'll never afford a big Dob if I keep buying random Astro gear.

- Just because they are wandering about in the dark and have a gun they won't necessarily shoot you (particularly scary.....)

- Little Refractors are great fun.

- solar observing is great.

Paul

[niallk]

In a few days I will be celebrating my first year of owning a telescope. I'd like to share the ten biggest lessons I have learnt in that time:

...

10 It doesn't matter what you see or your photos look like. You have seen and done things most people haven't.

Ha ha - very entertaining post

#10 really hits the nail on the head!

[Vox45]

- when my wife snuck on me while I was observing and asked 'what do you see' I discovered that I can scream at a much higher pitch than I thought I could

[Beulah]

Inspired post,  Mr Mandrel!

Number 4 is very true...  

Number 21: Owners of large dobs really can observe Luna and Planets, not just DSOs... 

[Mak the Night]

Number 21: Owners of large dobs really can observe Luna and Planets, not just DSOs... 

Number 22: Owners of large cat's really can observe DSO's, not just Luna and planets (provided they understand the exit pupil ratio conundrum calculation formula gymnastics) ...