££ Eyepiece Accident then Embarrassment

[Paul73]

Hi Guys

I thought that this one might raise a smile on a cloudy afternoon.

My precious ES 82° 24mm got a bit of a daytime knock back in November. After much cursing, I replaced it in its case and hoped for the best...

Fast forward to Dec. I retrieved said eypiece. Popped it in the Dob with trembling hands - the view was awful. Deeply sad as this was a favourite eyepiece (and £200 off to the seaside). Wondered if it was just poor seeing. Tried again a couple of days ago. Same result. Although I was surprised to see Owl nebula standing out on a hazy night.

I resolved to take it apart and realign the elements as there was nothing to lose.

Today was the day so a close inspection revealed something strange......

I feel a right muppet, but it couldn't have worked out much better.

[ngwillym]

  oops, almost as bad as leaving lens cap on camera

[triton1]

Haha we,ve all been guilty of a bit of muppetry glad it worked out though.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Oh well, I once thought there was something seriously wrong with my Nagler 12T4 (which is one of those dual barrel 2" - 1.25" types). I inserted it into the 2" diagonal after swapping out the 17T4, and was treated to a featureless grey image. No amount of turning the focusing knob of the C8 solved this. I took out the EP and put in the 17T4, and could achieve focus again, no worries. I then looked at the 12T4 to find that the 1.25" semi-transparent lens cap was still on the smaller inner barrel

[YKSE]

Something like this bounds to happen to us a couple of times

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Curiously, I know I won't leave a filter on my EP when working with the C8, because my filters go into a filter-slide built into the diagonal I have. I can of course leave the filter in the slide, but that is easily cured

This still leaves open many other avenues of stupidity

[spaceboy]

:D What a prize plum. Although I did have a similar experience with a moon filter. The skies were so clear yet I couldn't understand why all the clusters seemed less than impressive. Of course it wasn't until my eyelids were telling me it was bed time that I realized. A beautifully clear night wasted but hey ho, such is life   

Glad to see your prized 24mm remains all good though.

[Peter Drew]

Muppets were always good for a laugh! 

[Paul73]

Glad to have lightened the mood!

I was going to change my avatar to something muppet related but thought that it would probably stick.

Paul

[bingevader]

A happy ending is always better than Kermit in a blender.

[Astro Imp]

Alls well that ends well. 

We've all had similar mishaps but it's good that we can smile about them later.

[brantuk]

Classic! We've all been there.

Sympathies really but it is funny.

[Astro Imp]

Classic! We've all been there.

Sympathies really but it is funny.

You're a wicked man Brantuk   But it was funny.

[Paz]

Doh!

I was looking at m31 the other day and found myself thinking for some time that he view was really disappointing. Then I realised I was still looking through my finderscope when I thought I was looking through my main scope!

[Paul73]

I had the unfiltered eyepiece in the scope on Saturday. Perfect!!!

What a relief.

Paul