Retirement on the near horizon, more time for star watching! :)

[great white]

I’m RCAF and retiring in short order. After 28 years in SAR, I’m just to beaten up to go on any further. No worries though, I’m old and the parachute they’re giving me (on top of my pension) is pretty generous. I have no worries.

I’ve always been a bit of a stargazer, but my budget (and life) never matched my desire. I mostly puttered around picking up dept store specials for cheap and modifying them to be at least useful. The rest has been binoculars and Night vision googles. The NVG’s were at work, you sure see a lot of meteors on NVG’s!

My wife has always known I’ve had an affinity for gazing and something that has stuck in her head is how I always described what a profound event it was for me to once see the Cassini Division through one of my cheapy scope specials. So, unbeknownst to me, she has been saving for quite some time and intended to by me a decent telescope as a retirement gift. When I started talking about buying a decent scope to use in retirement, she handed me the business card from Atlantic Photo (they have a wide selection of telescopes) with some prices on the back. She said happy early retirement and we were set to buy one.

Well, I’ve always had it in my mind I wanted at least a 10” Dob: big enough to show enough objects that it will last me a lifetime, Dob for the no muss no fuss ease of use. With the little windfall the wife had saved up, I upgraded that to a 10” GoTo Dob.

After a bit of researching, I settled on a Skywatcher 10” SynScan Dob:

I liked that I could still push it if I wanted, but it would GoTo when I wanted less effort in searching (once set up properly). All of it still small enough for me to cart around with somewhat ease, even with my mobility issues.

Nice as it was, it needed some accessories. I figured I’d stick with the 10mm and 25mm eyepieces it came with until I got a better idea of what I needed for what I was going to use it for. I did want to see the solar eclipse this August, so I bought a baader film filter. It’s only a partial eclipse at my latitude, but that will do. Then I bought the dew shield/shroud for the trusses. I needed it for daytime viewing and the dew protection is also welcome. A lunar filter was cheap, so I tossed one in the bucket too. A wall plug in for power was good enough for now, so I bought one. the scope came with a GPS puck already.

The scope had to be ordered and it finally came in this past Friday. I put it together that night. Pretty easy, it’s all big parts. I tossed out the tools they provided (soft garbage) and used some good quality ones from my toolbox. I did a “fake” two star setup on it and ran it through some paces in the living room. I noted that the ALT motor wouldn’t lift the OTA from the park position.

The next morning I took the ALT mechanism apart and gave the clutch a tweek. Turns out it was worth taking it apart for another reason, as some substantial metal chips dropped out of the mechanism, probably leftover casting flash that would have mucked up the works sooner or later. It lifts the OTA now, but more setup is required to get it balanced and adjusted optimally. For now, it’s good enough to start out with.

Now it’s Sunday and the weather here has been…..ummm....well, lets just say "uncooperative" and leave it at that. This afternoon, the sun actually came out so I dragged the scope out front, installed the Baader filter and got my first ever view of the sun. I was a touch disappointed at first. Nothing but a big gray disc. I was hoping to maybe see some coronal wisps or sun spots. But as I continued to stare (and a little bit of fiddling on the focuser) I began to make out three bright dots on the lower RH corner of the surface. They seemed to move slightly. As I kept looking, I began to make out a somewhat circular mark on the surface that seemed to join the three spots as they moved around. I’m not exactly sure what I was looking at but I’m guessing a sunspot. Very cool!

The sun set a few moments ago and I trucked the scope out to the deck. Next up: the moon. Well, that’s an easy target but I wasn’t quite ready for what the 10 incher was going to show me. Craters, shadows, small impacts inside larger craters, ejection fields, onjects inside craters, etc, etc. The 25 MM was great, the 10MM was inspiring.   Great stuff!

The mosquitoes were bad and I’d seen two good objects on my first day so I called it a win and ended the evening on a positive note.

So. Plans. I need to build a cart. Something robust enough to cover some uneven ground. I’m accomplished at metal work and have the tools and mig welder to build this:

So that’s what I shall build. I have most of what I need in the garage already, even the tires. I’m thinking I’ll add some dim flashing red led’s to the struts, just in case I have people with me for a viewing. I will need some type of power tank, probably go with a deep cycle battery of some sort. Some type of box for it and some power ports. The scope is fitted for a fan, so I'll add one as well to hopefully  speed up acclimatization times. A couple red filter lights will round it out for now.

I’m a bit of a tinkerer and ther eare a few more farkles down the road. I got some ideas pirated off the internet and have a few of my own, just to make things a little more personalized.

My star charts are all old, so I downloaded Stellarium. All I have to say is “where have you been all my life!” Great little bit of kit and I’ll eventually try hooking it up to SynScan to see if it will direct my Skywatcher. I’ve read it does, but I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.

Last thing to get will be an observing chair. For what they cost in the stores, you don’t get much. I've seen some plans on the internet for a couple different types, so i'll probably just make my own. I've got some nice oak in the garage that's been waiting for a project and a little upholstery work will make is comfy on the bum. My scope isn't tall, but I need a chair to sit on as I can't stay bent over all night. That's thanks to one of my many military injuries again, this one being back is blown out. Popped my L5/S1 pulling a guy in a full body splint off a freighter 200 miles off sable island.

There’s a pretty active astronomical society here, they even have their own observatory. At least one major star party per year, several days long. There’s a guy down by Kuji who also built his own observatory and gives tours. 16” Dob is his main scope IIRC. . But I’m kind of a solitary person, so I don’t know if I will get into that. I prefer not to be around large groups of people. Goes back to one of the reasons why I can’t be in the military any longer. You can read between the lines there if you want…

My back yard is Dark Skys and a little jaunt down the road gets me to Kejumkujic Provincial Park, which is an UNESCO Dark Skies site. That dark hole with the cross in it:

is pretty much Keji and I'm in the western part of that dark hole. Supposedly, we're the darkest skies in North America. i don't know if that's true, but it sure is pitch black here at night. 

We haul a 35' travel trailer with my 2016 F150 EcoBoost:

(sample pictures, but look the same)

Lots of room to haul the scope and a very comfortable base camp. Wife is not really into starwatching, but she loves to use the camper so it all fits together. A little red filtering and everything will be ready to go.

 

Well, that’s me and my setup. Whatch think? Should last me at least a few years into retirement…..

[Dave In Vermont]

You don't mess around, do you?!

Very nice telescope you're aiming with. I'm rather 'retired' as well - due to physical disabilities - and I'd be quite satified with your outlay of gear. My only caveat is: Don't get a case of 'Accessory-Fever' and buy out a store-load of additional gear. Let working with what you already have be your guide in making well-educated choices as what will add to what you find are your main interests. More than a few of us have loads of goodies we've never even tried in our dusty box on the back shelf.

You're lucky to be living in these times when we have these forums to ask end-users what is best and why in helping formulate a skillful purchase of everything from an eyepiece, right down to a blue color-filter (glass-type, shade of blue, aperture and it's effect in which filter... etc!). We used to have to scrounge for even the most limited open-range data of actual experiences. And hopefully find an astronomy-club in our neck-of-the-woods. Which is still a great idea for a great many of our more gregarious brethren!

And speaking of those myriad 'dusty boxes' - you would do well to look into the 'used' marketplace for astronomy-based goods. Us 'astro-nuts' tend to be careful with our gear, both new & used. As such, some very good equipment can be found at down-to-Earth prices. For your being in Canada, I can suggest Astromart to you, which has a member-rating system to keep everyone honest and chase away would-be spammers. Have a  link (if you don't already!):

https://www.astromart.com/

It does cost $15US per year to be a member. But this is also keep away crooks and spammers. I seldom post links that can cost money to join such & such. But I will occasionally make a worthy exception with an explanation attached.

Hope this helps. Now back to watch the clouds roll in!

Dave

[niallk]

Congrats & great read! Sounds like you have a great setup there 

[SonnyE]

Welcome to Retirement! Congratulations! And keep her, she's s great one! Great Surprise!

And Thank You for your dedicated service!

Glad you both like camping/RVing. Us too. But we are with a 31' Class C motor-home.

My wife likes her TV. So we try and make sure she can get her 'fix'. I 'm a bit of loner, too. Because it's easy to deal with the guy in the mirror. My little dog likes me no matter what. And an avid Do-It-Yourself-er. Astronomy has been a great challenge to add to my photography hobby.

I'm an astro-imager, that was my decided passion, I blame the Orion Nebula. Stellarium will operate your go-to, once you get it sorted to do so. I rely on it heavily and enjoy it. I like a more basic approach, so I stick with Version 0.15.0. (I also liked Windows Classic. I'm still resistant to 'App's'.)

Do enjoy your new freedom, your new telescope, and stay active! Running your telescope day or night, or both, can keep you busy. But not so busy you don't have time to go shopping with the Mrs. or running short trips for her.

And do post questions as they come up. Sometimes it can help to read others ideas or opinions on challenges facing you. At least it can get your brain working on a different tack.

Most importantly, Have Fun! You've earned it!

[SteveNickolls]

Good for you, enjoy your retirement, you have well earnt it.

Wishing you clear, dark skies. Don't forget to post your observations.

Best wishes,
Steve

[John]

Great rigs there !

I hope you enjoy your retirement. I retired (early) back in 2011 and have enjoyed every minute of it apart from the aches and pains that getting older seems to bring

We used to use a caravan (trailer in the US / Canada ?) for vacations but my other half has decided that she likes hotels now

If you have any more spare $'s treat the dob to a couple of 100 degree eyepieces and drink in those wide views under dark skies - it's what dobs are made for

[Paz]

Welcome to sgl and your retirement. You've got a good scope, good skies, and lots of time on your hands!

[Astro Imp]

Congratulations on your retirement, you've chosen a great scope and are fortunate to have great skies to make the most of it.

Please keep us updated on your experiences and should you have any problems you know where to come.

Enjoy.

 

[ronl]

Congratulations on your retirement, your kit will last you a long time, and give you lots of pleasure,

having access to dark skies is a bonus, hope you will post your first light, looking forward to it.

Clear Sky's.