Credit Crunch Astronomy - Some hopefully useful tips

[NickH]

Credit Crunch Astronomy

Some hopefully useful tips..

1: Time to refurbish your mount – Mounts, especially ones with GOTO etc, can take a bit of a battering. If you think you have the skill or know someone who does, now may be a good time to strip down the mount, check the motors, gears and grease to ensure that it lasts for as long as you need it. It will save you money in not having to buy a new mount

2: Freeware software – Rather than spending hundreds of pounds on Photoshop, Maxim and all these other applications (fantastic though they ultimately are), have a look at many of the freeware offerings online. These include IRIS, The GIMP, Deep Sky Stacker and more. Sure, some of them have a much higher and more difficult learning curve than their commercial counterparts, but, time is one thing most of us have with these rain sodden nights. If you have a need for a mobile phone contract, or need to renew one soon, then look at the £19 a month deals available which provide you with a free, brand spanking new laptop (or micro webbook laptop). These are more than powerful enough to run most of the applications you need for imaging and mapping the stars.

3: Online robotic rent a scope – Given the conditions we have experienced this year, some of the “pay as you go” robotic offerings do now seem to offer great value for money, especially as you are getting access to world class cameras and instrumentation, in crystal clear skies. Having spent some time this month using the Faulkes telescope database, it’s also a great way to hone and practice your image processing skills with all that new freeware you just downloaded in point 2

4: Invest in some binoculars and learn the sky. I have to hold up my hand and say that without GOTO, I would be lost, but having recently spent the princely sum of £17 on a pair of 70mm binoculars from www.bid.tv (BK7, and they show the moons of Jupiter easily). These and a simple tripod adapter, you can have as much fun as any night with a laptop and mounds of cables. £17 is about the cost of a few coffee’s and a sandwich at a chain coffee store.

5: Come along to viewing evenings. Cost = nothing, value = huge. Again, due to family commitments, I have not been to many at our local society over the past year. Came along to the last one, and it was fantastic. You get to look through wonderful equipment, and all for free.

6: Study online: There are tons of free courses and information podcasts from a wide ranges of sources such as the OU, NASA etc, and you only need a free copy of itunes to access most of them.

7: Clean up your EP’s and gear. As with point 1, some time spent making sure your optics and cameras are dust and dirt free, will pay huge dividends on those rare clear nights, when you need them to perform at their very best.

8: Do some outreach. Nothing, and I mean nothing, is more enjoyable than watching someone who has never seen the Moon, Saturn, Venus, a globular cluster or some other wonder of the sky, and the look on their face, when you show them and explain what it is they are looking at.

9: Free magazines – Well, close to. BBC Sky at Night are running an offer for 3 mags for £1, which is great value. There are also magazines like the ones produced by the PPARC, EuroPhotonics (interesting if you are in to CCD cameras), and newsletters in PDF format from other societies, which are well worth a read

And Finally

10: Make your own scope - Probably the most challenging, but again, various magazines have run articles on making your own scope. This is a long term project, but the joy of making your own Dobsonian, from scratch, I can only imagine must be immense. Grinding mirrors takes hard work and commitment, but, for not much investment, you could make up a 10 inch scope, for hundreds less than it would cost to buy. If that scares you…then ukastrobuyandsell website or ebay can have some genuine bargains as well. Be aware that these obviously don’t come with the usually excellent support and warranties which buying new will provide though.

[Greg]

Excellent advice there Nick...

[MrEd]

Outstanding and timely bit of advice Nick.

Thanks for posting.

Ed

[russ]

Good advice Nick.

I've been in full Credit Crunch mode since September. Rationalised my setup, bought a 'cheap' dob, doing all the mods myself, making full use of the binos, just making use of the gear i have, no more buying. My only extravagance was buying James' Nagler in September.

Will be making full use of my local club too.

[Ben Ritchie]

Another thing that springs to mind is the huge value for money of older kit these days. If you're looking at trying out imaging then an 80ED or ZS66 plus a Meade DSI pro can be found for £250, and offers a still-respectable level of performance that would have cost well over a grand only a few years ago. Or a Canon 300D won't cost much more (modified, or save even more by modifying it youself) and that's great straight through the 80ED or with some of the cheap as anything Canon lenses like the 50mm f/1.8.

[gary1968]

Great advice Nick, made good reading.

Gary

[russ]

Another thing that springs to mind is the huge value for money of older kit these days. If you're looking at trying out imaging then an 80ED or ZS66 plus a Meade DSI pro can be found for £250, and offers a still-respectable level of performance that would have cost well over a grand only a few years ago. Or a Canon 300D won't cost much more (modified, or save even more by modifying it youself) and that's great straight through the 80ED or with some of the cheap as anything Canon lenses like the 50mm f/1.8.

Don't remind me Ben. I'm still kicking myself for not buying your 66

[philsail1]

Yes, very good post Nick.

Regards,

philsail1

[mik]

Very good post nick may i just add

Get a set of pencils a pad and get sketching an advanced sketch set will set you back about 20 quid

Mick.

[Viking]

Admin/Mods,

Can we sticky this post, or add it into tutorials?

Thanks NickH.

John

[Sam]

Great post Nick. There are a heap of free astronomy resources out there - it's just a case of knowing where to look!

[NickH]

Very good post nick may i just add

Get a set of pencils a pad and get sketching an advanced sketch set will set you back about 20 quid

Mick.

Good one Mick...in fact, one that should be on anyones list...

(and a red light head torch!)

[Kai]

Admin/Mods,

Can we sticky this post, or add it into tutorials?

Thanks NickH.

John

:salute:

[treetops]

Thanks for the great tips. Appreciated.

[premo]

good info

[paulastro]

Very good advice. I've used oddles of scopes over the years and it's amazing how often something new turns up if you go to a local open viewing event as suggested. The Astronomy Centre near Todmorden/Bacup in Lancashire is open every Saturday night and there are always the resident scopes to look through, refractors up to 8.5 inch, SCs up to 16" and Newts up to 17" (the 30 inch is not currently in operating mode). The only problem of course, is being located on those rainy and wind swept hills!! If it's clear or not, Peter Drew is a mine of information and practical support to get your scope up and running if you've just bought a scope or thinking of getting one. Regards, Paul

[BeccaBrown]

They were great tips as we are very strapped for cash at the minute and as a newbie I get very jealous reading other people's posts asking what kind of scope they should be buy for "only" a couple hundred pound lol!

I got my own tip (which is great, but I can't remember where I got it from so apologies to whoever said it first...) - instead of a red light torch I was given a lovely little pocket torch out of a Christmas cracker which I painted with red nail varnish costing £1.29! It works great and if it chips or flakes I just paint another coat on!

[mwalke36]

Excellent info:icon_salut:

[jazzmeister]

Your eyes are free and if you are blessed with good sight and can find a nice dark spot on a clear night, then that is the cheapest form of astronomy I know.

[Ogri]

Your eyes are free and if you are blessed with good sight and can find a nice dark spot on a clear night, then that is the cheapest form of astronomy I know.

This is very true. I used to live on the top of a hill at the side of a forest in West Wales. No light pollution, couldn't even see house lights in the distance (closest neighbour was a half mile away over the rise of the hill), not even a streetlight.

I'd go outdoors on a clear night, and the Universe just leapt out at you. Ended up buying some Russian made 7 x 50 binoculars with great lenses in them (under £30 at the time), and spent many happy hours just looking around (still haven't a clue what I was looking at, but the entertainment was much better than the telly).

Do you think these stupid streetlights have been installed to hide the Universe from us?

[MishMich]

One point. There was some research into the cost of mobile contracts which threw in a laptop. They worked out about £200 more expensive than buying the equivalent laptop and getting a basic mobile contract, or doing pay-as-you-go.

M.

[timefortea]

Don't forget to plunder your local library for astronomy books, and don't forget about inter library loans. If you are lucky the reference section may have a copy of Astromomy to read.

It will help pass those cloudy nights when you aren't lubricating and polishing your mount!!!

Who knows what gems can be unearthed in charity shops!!!

[Beulah]

10: Make your own scope - Probably the most challenging, but again, various magazines have run articles on making your own scope. This is a long term project, but the joy of making your own Dobsonian, from scratch, I can only imagine must be immense. Grinding mirrors takes hard work and commitment, but, for not much investment, you could make up a 10 inch scope, for hundreds less than it would cost to buy. If that scares you…then ukastrobuyandsell website or ebay can have some genuine bargains as well. Be aware that these obviously don’t come with the usually excellent support and warranties which buying new will provide though.

Amen to that!!! I am starting my scratch-build telescope this month!

[russ]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NickH

10: Make your own scope - Probably the most challenging, but again, various magazines have run articles on making your own scope. This is a long term project, but the joy of making your own Dobsonian, from scratch, I can only imagine must be immense. Grinding mirrors takes hard work and commitment, but, for not much investment, you could make up a 10 inch scope, for hundreds less than it would cost to buy. If that scares you…then ukastrobuyandsell website or ebay can have some genuine bargains as well. Be aware that these obviously don’t come with the usually excellent support and warranties which buying new will provide though.

Amen to that!!! I am starting my scratch-build telescope this month!

I got involved in the making of a mirror for the Hampshire Astro Group back in the 80's. My god there was a lot of hard work required and the first attempt was found to have a turned down edge. It was a good experience at the time and made good financial sense back then as the cost of buying an 8" scope was beyond most peoples (definitely mine) means. But these days the cost incentive is not really there with good options for a secondhand 6", 8" and 10" dob at such bargain prices. Building from scratch now would be more about the experience and satisfaction.

Playing the secondhand market is a great way to beat the crunch. I just picked up a Lumicon OIII filter for £22 delivered. A crazy price.

Russ

[omneferuss]

I think I was lucky to stumble into astro in these last two years, when in my opinion the cost of gear hit its all time historic low.. but the consumerist principle is now turning kit into a Moore's Law escalation like computers.. Thank your prefered Deity that Microsoft as yet does not dominate the astro market !

Glad to see the spirit that saw Ol' Blighty through The Blitz is surviving !

Already we see less with our contemporary amateur instruments, that would've amazed Herschell at al, nevermind Gallileo... with their pristine skies. Though now we need not be a Lord Rosse or be in the employ of Emperors to access a telescope to view, we've largely lost the view. Such is progress.

Dark clear skies are priceless. A 70mm f/13 achromat 200 or 400yrs ago would have offered more genuine "WOW !!", I believe, than the stuff that is beyond-my-budget today in this turgid tragic tatter of an atmosphere over-illuminated by mindless glare.

I'd like to see something akin to the 'Campaign for Real Ale' in amateur astronomy...

As an Aussie, I was brought up on what you 'Poms' would call 'lager', the tasteless over-cold thin fizz that suited my hastey torrid youth, but which I consider predigested urine now I'm all for higher hygiene standards, but not over-standardisation.. to a lifeless ffffft.

Nor do I think good skies need be the preserve of the Captains of Industry at their Barbados retreats.

If humble scopes can no longer satisfactorily suffice in the lives of the ordinary Citizen-observor, then things are amiss and going backwards. The industry that drives the Jones-against-Jones race for its products sacrifices the viewing atmosphere, willingly, to add to its 'premium'. If any should be "aware" and alert to climatic and climactic influences upon our atmosphere, then it should be those invested into Earthbound astronomy.. those least limited to the antfarm 'worldview'.

Nevermind the "credit krunch".. it's about reclaiming what was yours to begin with, and was everyboby's, before it was capitalised from you and sold back to you beyond your means to pay, on the 'wages' deemed by those who dispossesed you and your forebears....

....saving pennies is the least of it.

its not letting yourself be hovelled under an artificial ceiling, starved and blinded from the truth.

and, its fun !!