Your biggest regret or mistake?

[cloudsweeper]

54 minutes ago, Ouroboros said:

I regret clicking on a thread in which three posters quoted in full a post containing 4 (was it?) images. It took an age on an iPad to scroll to the bottom of the page. There has to be a better way for forums to work surely? I can't remember what I was going to post now. Sorry, rant over.  ?

 

When doing a quote, a right click then delete on an image solves the problem.

Doug.

[Mark at Beaufort]

Biggest regret leaving the solar filter on the scope during totality. I was watching the total eclipse visually whilst clicking the remote shutter button. I then spent time checking why I had no photos instead of viewing the Sun.

 

[Astro Imp]

Regret as @cloudsweeper starting with a Newtonian on an equatorial mount (being new to the hobby didn't know any better}. I persevered with this for longer than I should have thinking, wrongly, I would get used to it. Although not completely wasted, the time I spent struggling with this combination could have been better spent observing with something more user friendly.

[Gina]

Too many night when everything went wrong to remember any specific one!!

[Alfian]

Buying and selling equipment seems to be an inevitable rite of passage in finding what suits. Even  though I regret the financial penalties of this Its hard to be too self reproachful because I usually learn something or gain in other ways along the way. There have been a couple of eyepieces I've sold  which I should have kept.  Its easy to think "I wish I knew then what I know now" - too late, its history. I've made a few silly mistakes, with equipment and posted stuff which I've then realised were not that sensible or helpful but hey ho the world hasn't ended. 

[Piero]

I sometimes regret not to be more resolute and just buy the telescope that I love. It seems that I get stuck in details and or guilty of overly spend..

The same attitude works better on eyepieces though. At least I am very much enjoying my small set and have no wish to change it or try other options. 

[L8-Nite]

I regret never taking a trip to Tristan Da Cunha Island, the most remote island on Earth; about 2000 miles from South America, 2000 miles from Antarctica, and about 2000 miles from Africa in the middle of the Atlantic. Got to be the darkest skies on our Planet.

[John]

You do occasionally get a chance to make amends though. 30 years ago I was into astronomy and on a western USA tour. We had a short time in the Flagstaff area but I did not have time to visit the Lowell Observatory or Meteor Crater which is a bit over 40 miles from Flagstaff. Two places that I've read a lot about since and very much wished that I had seen. This year we are returning to that area and I'm planning to visit both

[Geoff Barnes]

Regrets, I've had a few, but then again too few to mention.........???

 

[markclaire50]

52 minutes ago, John said:

You do occasionally get a chance to make amends though. 30 years ago I was into astronomy and on a western USA tour. We had a short time in the Flagstaff area but I did not have time to visit the Lowell Observatory or Meteor Crater which is a bit over 40 miles from Flagstaff. Two places that I've read a lot about since and very much wished that I had seen. This year we are returning to that area and I'm planning to visit both

Yes, I was in Page, Northern Arizona, but we didn't have time to reach Meteor Crater. That was 23 years ago. One thing I will regret is never seeing a total solar eclipse. I've got my eye on the one in Northern Spain 7 years from now. 

[markclaire50]

20 minutes ago, Geoff Barnes said:

Regrets, I've had a few, but then again too few to mention.........???

 

Fly me to the moon! 

[VNA]

Biggest regrets? loosing my eye sight to AMD!
Biggest mistakes? Too many to list here, although so many were fun and exiting!

 

[Ouroboros]

8 hours ago, cloudsweeper said:

When doing a quote, a right click then delete on an image solves the problem.

Doug.

Excellent suggestion if using a PC. Doesn't work on an iPad of course, but pics can be highlighted one at a time and delighted. Bit of a chore but can and should be done. Anyway this is off topic so I'll shut up now. ?

[Stu]

11 minutes ago, Ouroboros said:

Excellent suggestion if using a PC. Doesn't work on an iPad of course, but pics can be highlighted one at a time and delighted. Bit of a chore but can and should be done. Anyway this is off topic so I'll shut up now. ?

Just put the cursor inside the quote box but after the image and hit delete. Works on my phone so will work on my tablet too.

Back on topic ??

[Ouroboros]

15 minutes ago, Stu said:

Just put the cursor inside the quote box but after the image and hit delete. Works on my phone so will work on my tablet too.

Back on topic ??

Yeah, I said that. I have to delete one image at a time on iPad which is a bit of a faff. It's easy to delete the whole quote too. Would be good if forum software enabled quote without images.  Back on topic now.  

[Skywatcher130]

Regret not charging up my power pack on the only clear night last week.  New eyepiece had arrived,  everything set up,  scope aligned perfectly then...died on me ?  #newbiemistake 

[paulastro]

 

19 hours ago, mikeDnight said:

I regret not having the patience to wait a month for True Technology to import a Takahashi FS102 for me.  I regret selling my Takahashi FS128 so as to afford a Takahashi FS152.  I regret selling my FS152 and buying  TVNP101.  I dont regret selling the TV NP101 in favour of a SW120ED, and I don't regret selling my SW120ED so as to buy a Takahashi FC100DC. Full circle!

 

I don't think you should have any regrets about buying and selling any of these scopes Mike.  At the time you bought/sold each of these scopes, you weighed up all the options, made a decision and did the deed.  This is all we can ever do.  You've travelled a path, which in my opinion, has led you to now owning and enjoying one of the best four inch visual refractors there has ever been, if not the best.  As you know yourself, a four inch enables you ( I mean 'you' in that you are an exceptional visual observer and artist) to make top observations in seeing conditions where a bigger scope just wouldn't do the business - and because it's so compact you use your scope more often than you have probably used any of your previous scopes, with the possible exception of the Equinox 80.  I can't think of any scope that would bring you so much pleasure as the one you own now.  Nothing to regret as far as I can see .

[Saganite]

My biggest regret, and it is a big one, is letting almost two decades go buy without checking the prices of a decent telescope. When I desperately wanted one in the early to mid Seventies, I made do with a home built 6" reflector which was ok , but left a lot to be desired. A good quality 4" refractor was way beyond me then, , and so I assumed they always would be, and it was by chance many years later that I discovered just how affordable they had become. No amount of money buys back time though. 

[John]

Looking back I think I did make a misjudgement when I bought an Istar 6 inch F/12 achromat refractor. There was nothing wrong with the scope - it was actually excellent. But I should have used the experience that I'd gained from owning other refractors to work out that mounting such a long scope was going to be a huge challenge and actually would cost somewhat more than the scope had. The resulting setup pictured below (and even that was not free of vibrations by any means) weighed something over 120 lbs and, of course, proved a real chore to set up and take down. Especially in the dark !

The mount is an EQ6 and the tripod has 3 inch steel tubed legs. The other fracs in the 2nd pic are my ED120 and Vixen ED102SS for scale.

The romance and excitement of being at the eyepiece end of a large aperture, long tubed refractor is tangible but I reckon these are best suited to observatories where they can be on huge and permanent mountings. Lesson learned !

 

[Astroscot2]

I have only a few astro regrets..

1.  Buying my first serious telescope when I was 16,  saved up for nearly a year some serious money for a 16 year old to buy an Orion Optics Sct Newtonian 8" F4 with big plans on astrophotography.  What I received was a pile of junk,   It put me off astronomy for a number or years, promised I would never buy another OO telescope again and bought a OO CT 10 a number of years back which is actually a very good telescope ?

2. Selling my Tak FSQ fluorite, why oh why oh why, probably wont be able to afford an instrument of that quality again ……. 

 

Mark

[Macavity]

Sometimes I do feel that I could have saved time... SPENT less if I had
"carbon copied" a few of the setups used by my fellow Astronomers! ?

But my personal "journey" was quite fun / educational? And, to be
honest, I cannot afford the premium setups of some. On the other
hand perhaps if I had more patience... Maybe I had saved for a bit! 

The chagrins of the generalist: "Jack of all trades, master of none"! ?

P.S. Since I mostly "image" stuff, avoided the "Eyepiece Tango"? lol

[mikeDnight]

16 hours ago, markclaire50 said:

Hi Mike 

Well, I've finally got curious enough to ask. 

If you were blindfolded (don't worry) and led to two scopes, let's call the A and B, both 100 mm, but one a doublet e.g. SW 100mm ed, and the other the Tak FC-100DC, and your eye was placed into position over eyepiece before removing blindfold, with scope prefocussed, how would you know immediately if it was the Tak or not? 

Thanks 

Mark 

 

That's a very good question Mark, and before I answer it, I'll just relate an experience I had when I had my Televue NP101.

I'd bought the TV NP 101 because I have a problem with my lower back and almost dropped my Tak FS152 on one occasion after my back gave way. I thought, after reading all the wonderful things about the 101, that it would be the ideal scope for me. Apart from it giving a very warm view compared to the Tak's , it struggled to give the definition I craved at high power. As a wide field scope it was superb!

One evening, I drove over to visit my friend paulastro, who'd just bought an ex display, gold and cream, Skywatcher 120ED  from Wide Screen for around £400. and I took along with me my 101. Setting the 101 up alongside Paul's 120ED  we aimed the scopes at the Moon. This was in 2008 and it was my first view through a Sky watcher ED. I never looked through my NP101 again after that night! The best compliment i could pay to that SW ED was that It Was Very Takahashi! The views were icey white just like fluorite, where as the view through the 101 was by comparison,  dull with a nicotine hue. Of course the 101 was a very good scope that gave text book star images and great deep sky views, and my opinion of it may sound overly harsh, but it was not in the same league as a Tak on the Moon or planets. The Skywatcher 120ED on the other hand most definitely was! That was a Saturday night and at 8 o'clock on Sunday morning I phoned Paul and told him to sell my NP101. It was snapped up immediately, and by Wednesday of the same week, I was the very proud owner of a black diamond SW 120ED  DS Pro. I later bought the Equinox version but used SW ED's quite happily until 2015.

The reason I hadn't bought a smaller Tak rather than the 101 was that at the time Takahashi had stopped production of their fluorite doublets, and I wanted a fluorite doublet.  I thought that if i threw money into a scope then it would be bound to deliver, but despite Televues great claims, the 101 and I never really hit it off!  I was very content with my SW ED, until one evening when Paul phoned to tell me that Takahashi had started production of fluorite doublets again. I window shopped the new FC100D refractors from October 2014 until March 2015. Then Paul told me he'd ordered one, so not wanting to be beat, I sold my ED's and a few top end TV eyepieces,  which went very quickly. Soon I had more than enough to afford a new FC and ordered the FC100DC version from True Technology as that was in stock. When Paul saw I'd sold a lot of my astro gear on AB&S he phoned to find out what was going on. I told him that if he's having a Tak then so am I.  There was a deathly hush, then nervous laughter. He said "I was only Kidding! I only said I'd ordered one to see how you'd react." The words Git and Rat were among the expletives used as I confirmed our friendship was still standing! 

Now to get back to your original question. What difference would I see? On the majority of nights very little. The colour correction in the Tak is better than the SW ED in that with the ED you can see a very thin chromatic edge to the moon. In the Tak FC100DC there is essentially no visible CA on the lunar limb.I would also imagine ( I haven't actually tried them side by side) that the Tak is fractionally brighter aperture for aperture. But the real telling difference would only become evident on the very best nights, where the Tak will keep on taking higher and higher magnification without breaking down, which is an indication of the high level of figure on the lens. With seeing conditions permitting, and depending on the object under scrutiny, the FC's will glide along quite merrily at X100 per inch, and more on occasion, where as few other refractors are quite as happy at those powers. On most nights however, I feel there would be very little to choose between the FC100 and the SW100. Both are great scopes that really ooze optical quality!

[Paul73]

I’ve sold loads of Astro gear during my comparatively short time in the hobby. Quite a lot of it I was sorry to see go, but I was glad to have it to sell as I could buy other gear or deal with to odd large unexpected bill! Bank of Televue had dug me out of a few scrapes over the years!

Buying a nice red ZWO camara was a mistake. I have the attention span of a goldfish when it comes to computers. It didn’t work out..... 

Paul

[Saganite]

1 hour ago, paulastro said:

 

I don't think you should have any regrets about buying and selling any of these scopes Mike.  At the time you bought/sold each of these scopes, you weighed up all the options, made a decision and did the deed.  This is all we can ever do.  You've travelled a path, which in my opinion, has led you to now owning and enjoying one of the best four inch visual refractors there has ever been, if not the best.  As you know yourself, a four inch enables you ( I mean 'you' in that you are an exceptional visual observe and artist) to make top observations in seeing conditions where a bigger scope just wouldn't do the business - and because it's so compact you use your scope more often than you have probably used any of your previous scopes, with the possible exception of the Equinox 80.  I can't think of any scope that would bring you so much pleasure as the one you own now.  Nothing to regret as far as I can see .

Rather well said if I may say so Paul. 

[GavStar]

51 minutes ago, mikeDnight said:

That's a very good question Mark, and before I answer it, I'll just relate an experience I had when I had my Televue NP101.

I'd bought the TV NP 101 because I have a problem with my lower back and almost dropped my Tak FS152 on one occasion after my back gave way. I thought, after reading all the wonderful things about the 101, that it would be the ideal scope for me. Apart from it giving a very warm view compared to the Tak's , it struggled to give the definition I craved at high power. As a wide field scope it was superb!

One evening, I drove over to visit my friend paulastro, who'd just bought an ex display, gold and cream, Skywatcher 120ED  from Wide Screen for around £400. and I took along with me my 101. Setting the 101 up alongside Paul's 120ED  we aimed the scopes at the Moon. This was in 2008 and it was my first view through a Sky watcher ED. I never looked through my NP101 again after that night! The best compliment i could pay to that SW ED was that It Was Very Takahashi! The views were icey white just like fluorite, where as the view through the 101 was by comparison,  dull with a nicotine hue. Of course the 101 was a very good scope that gave text book star images and great deep sky views, and my opinion of it may sound overly harsh, but it was not in the same league as a Tak on the Moon or planets. The Skywatcher 120ED on the other hand most definitely was! That was a Saturday night and at 8 o'clock on Sunday morning I phoned Paul and told him to sell my NP101. It was snapped up immediately, and by Wednesday of the same week, I was the very proud owner of a black diamond SW 120ED  DS Pro. I later bought the Equinox version but used SW ED's quite happily until 2015.

The reason I hadn't bought a smaller Tak rather than the 101 was that at the time Takahashi had stopped production of their fluorite doublets, and I wanted a fluorite doublet.  I thought that if i threw money into a scope then it would be bound to deliver, but despite Televues great claims, the 101 and I never really hit it off!  I was very content with my SW ED, until one evening when Paul phoned to tell me that Takahashi had started production of fluorite doublets again. I window shopped the new FC100D refractors from October 2014 until March 2015. Then Paul told me he'd ordered one, so not wanting to be beat, I sold my ED's and a few top end TV eyepieces,  which went very quickly. Soon I had more than enough to afford a new FC and ordered the FC100DC version from True Technology as that was in stock. When Paul saw I'd sold a lot of my astro gear on AB&S he phoned to find out what was going on. I told him that if he's having a Tak then so am I.  There was a deathly hush, then nervous laughter. He said "I was only Kidding! I only said I'd ordered one to see how you'd react." The words Git and Rat were among the expletives used as I confirmed our friendship was still standing! 

Now to get back to your original question. What difference would I see? On the majority of nights very little. The colour correction in the Tak is better than the SW ED in that with the ED you can see a very thin chromatic edge to the moon. In the Tak FC100DC there is essentially no visible CA on the lunar limb.I would also imagine ( I haven't actually tried them side by side) that the Tak is fractionally brighter aperture for aperture. But the real telling difference would only become evident on the very best nights, where the Tak will keep on taking higher and higher magnification without breaking down, which is an indication of the high level of figure on the lens. With seeing conditions permitting, and depending on the object under scrutiny, the FC's will glide along quite merrily at X100 per inch, and more on occasion, where as few other refractors are quite as happy at those powers. On most nights however, I feel there would be very little to choose between the FC100 and the SW100. Both are great scopes that really ooze optical quality!

Nice answer Mike.

I bought my Tak fc100df in March 2014 as per this early thread of mine...

I remember how this scope came onto the market really quietly and at the time I struggled to find anyone who had one either on SGL or Cloudynights (how times have changed ?). Hence why I felt that I was taking a bit of a punt at the time - haven’t regretted it at all though ?

On topic my biggest regret is not getting into this hobby much earlier. I was fascinated by space as a child but my parents didn’t have much cash so I never got a scope. It was only many years later that I into this hobby by accident after buying some nice binoculars for watching sports events.

Even today I internally weep when I think I never looked up to see hale bopp. (Not to mention Venus transit of the sun and Saturn and Mars being high in the sky) ???

But I’m trying to make up lost time now ?