WWE Astronomy! 😱

[Stu]

That’s certainly how it felt yesterday evening! I think I’ve done ten rounds with Hulk Hogan!

The forecast was for clear skies so I wheeled the 16” dob out on my scrap heap truck down to the bottom of the garden. All went well, and it proved its worth making the whole process quite easy. The first wrestling challenge though was getting the scope off the truck.  I don’t have the facility to stabilise it yet, and even if I did it is likely then too high. I can manage it by removing the considerable counterweighting under the primary which makes it light enough to lift.

The second wrestling experience came in use because I’m finding the movement very jerky. Once moving it is ok, but there is considerable static friction. I will likely add a lazy Susan bearing for Az, and think I’ve found the issue on the alt bearings; the Teflon pads just don’t lift the bearings clear of the base, so they are in contact with the wood making moment very stiff. I will be able to sort this out too, relatively easily but for now, driving the dob is a fairly physical experience!

I manhandled the scope onto a number of objects; M36, 37 & 38, the Double Cluster, the Eskimo nebula, M81 and 82, the 37 Cluster and M42, that was about it. Bear in mind that there was cloud of varying thicknesses coming through, but a number of clear spells, so the views were mixed but with enough ‘good’ in there to be worthwhile. The secondary is quite exposed so that fogged later on which didn’t help, so that’s another thing to sort or at least have a hair dryer handy for.

I mainly used a 31mm and 17mm Nagler, occasionally upping things to the Docter 12.5mm UWA or Leica Zoom.

The image scale and resolution in the Auriga clusters was lovely, really showing their different characters. NGC 1907 showed clearly, and looked great at higher power, resolving well.

The Eskimo looked quite greenish to my eye, central star with a halo that responded well to AV. M42 showed intricate detail and again, a quite strong greenish tint to it. I tried it at varying powers, all of which showed something worthwhile, the best were probably lowest (31mm mag) and highest (Docter 12.5).

To carry on the WWE theme, after finishing observing, we had a knock down!! 😱. I removed the counterweights to wrestle the thing back onto the truck, and thought I was sorted with it stable. I made the mistake of having the scope pointing away from me as I thought that would be easier. As I headed up the hill back to the garage, the whole thing toppled off the truck!!! 🤬🤬 The mirror came out of its sling, sliding up the tube, then back down again as I righted the scope.

Lady luck smiled on me in two ways. Firstly I had locked the scope down to its base using the turnbuckle fasteners which are fitted, so it all stayed together. Secondly, and more importantly, I had refitted the mirror cover which is a substantial metal affair and which stayed firmly in place, totally protecting the mirror. The truss tubes are all padded, so I escaped with no scratches, dinks or chips to the mirror!!

I got the mirror back in place, then more wresting to get the scope back on the truck, pointing uphill this time, and got it back into the garage without further incident. The knock down aside, the truck works really well even down the quite rough garden to the better observing spots.

A quite eventful evening all in all, but no damage done except to ego and plenty of experience gained, I’m a big Dob novice still in many ways.

Learnings?

Point the Dob towards me on the truck when moving it!

Find a way of chocking the truck up so I don’t need to lift the scope off it to observe

Look into how the mirror is secured; it currently has a sling and some pads which tight against the side, no clips.

Find a way to stop the secondary dewing up, perhaps a dew shield or hairdryer.

Think that’s enough! 🤣👍

Some pics of the scope attached. They show the very inadequate Teflon pads which I need to fix. I’ve chucked a few of the lovely sunset in too, for your pleasure 😀.

Stu

EDIT Title changed to WWE!!

[apaulo]

Lucky eacape stu. Why not just leave it on the truck 24/7.

[Stu]

13 minutes ago, apaulo said:

Lucky eacape stu. Why not just leave it on the truck 24/7.

Indeed it was! The truck is not stable enough to observe on currently. I could chock it up off the wheels I guess and use a small step when at higher altitudes. That would avoid some of the issues I agree.

[Ratlet]

Lucky escape there Stu.

 

[The60mmKid]

Should be WWE, Stu. You'll anger the wrestlers... and the conservationists. That's a dangerous game to play.

[Zermelo]

15 minutes ago, The60mmKid said:

Should be WWE, Stu. You'll anger the wrestlers... and the conservationists. That's a dangerous game to play.

Co-incidences... while @Stuwas out observing last night, one of the questions on BBC2's Only Connect was about how the wrestling body had to change their name because of the clash with the conservation organization.

[Ratlet]

7 minutes ago, Zermelo said:

Co-incidences... while @Stuwas out observing last night, one of the questions on BBC2's Only Connect was about how the wrestling body had to change their name because of the clash with the conservation organization.

It's quite an interesting story.  I was a fan at the time and it was kind of a fascinating look into the kind of mindset the company has/had.

Still think Mick Foley is the greatest of all time.  His autobiography is fantastic.

[Stu]

50 minutes ago, The60mmKid said:

Should be WWE, Stu. You'll anger the wrestlers... and the conservationists. That's a dangerous game to play.

Thank you, title changed. Don’t want to annoy any big, ugly wrestlers, or pandas for that matter 🤪

[Ratlet]

23 minutes ago, Stu said:

Thank you, title changed. Don’t want to annoy any big, ugly wrestlers, or pandas for that matter 🤪

Good Gawd Almighty, HE'S GOT A STEEL CHAIR

[Ratlet]

Getting back on track, sounds like a good session overall.  I don't wind when things go wrong (so long as nothing breaks!) As you normally get towards a better session next time.

I love M36 etc al.  It's one of those clusters that looks amazing at low or high power, nice cluster of stars at high power and at lower power you lose the detail but it takes on almost an organic quality.

[Stu]

30 minutes ago, Ratlet said:

Getting back on track, sounds like a good session overall.  I don't wind when things go wrong (so long as nothing breaks!) As you normally get towards a better session next time.

I love M36 etc al.  It's one of those clusters that looks amazing at low or high power, nice cluster of stars at high power and at lower power you lose the detail but it takes on almost an organic quality.

Thanks, yes was good to be out, and I saw some nice targets. I’m not helped by my broken TelRad currently so need to get that fixed. It works but not always easy to see the rings.

I’ve definitely learned a few things; I know how to improve the movement of the scope, know how to avoid it falling off the truck, and nothing broke, so all is grand 👍

[DirkSteele]

Looks like a nice scope, not withstanding the friction issues which can no doubt be solved. Who is the manufacturer? 

[Stu]

25 minutes ago, DirkSteele said:

Looks like a nice scope, not withstanding the friction issues which can no doubt be solved. Who is the manufacturer? 

It was a home built job, by some one who seems fairly competent. Loosely based on an Obsession type design I think.

[DirkSteele]

12 minutes ago, Stu said:

It was a home built job, by some one who seems fairly competent. Loosely based on an Obsession type design I think.

Impressive! Wish I had those woodworking skills. Sadly, my dad (who is rather good at such things) failed to pass on those genes to me.