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What is it about astronomers....

Astro_Baby

By Astro_Baby
in The Astro Lounge

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RobH

RobH

Posted
Posted

Great read AB :evil1:

I did the same with an ancient maglite (red sharpie, not nail polish!)...it was rubbish too!

Camping mats as dewshields though....I have to differ.

I swear by them...they are simply better, and I've tried the alternatives, and there's not a lot you can't do with gaffa tape :D

Cheers

Rob

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rowan46

rowan46

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I make my own stuff cos i am a cheap scrooge If I could have got as good a view with coke bottle lenses and 2 pins stuck in my eyes I would have done it. But seriously I agree with you I like goto it suits my needs down to the ground. but when someone asks what will I see more with? I will keep saying you see more with a big scope. when a new person asks what will I find more with? well that to me means goto unless you have years of starhopping behind you. must stop I have to go to the loo now :D

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Moonshane

Moonshane

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what a top post.

made me smile all the way through.

as a dob owner, I'd say in 'our' defence that we tend to spend all our money on aperture so there's none left for gadgetry after the eyepieces (which with a fast dob have to be good quality) have been bough and the Telrad of course (with a home made dew shield or home made dew heater naturally :D).

many genuinely really enjoy the DIY ethos and actually sometimes spend more money doing it themselves than if they'd bought it! but the fun and enjoyment of something you have made yourself working and being useful is great. I tend to agree though that it's got to look right.

as an examples of a job that's worth it, I made my own obsderving chair from stuff in the shed. this would have been about £100. this experience made me confident I could do a better job next time if I spend more than an hour making it and I'll be doing so soon.

another is an equatorial platform. these are £500 approx to buy and I reckon I can make one (or possibly even two) for £50 total. well worth the effort and proof that at least some of us embrace 'technology' although these were first conceived in the 70's I think! :evil1:

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John

John

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Great couple of posts AB - really enjoyed them, particularly because a number of my own tendencies have been highlighted so accurately in them - I guess I know how a politician feels seeing a good cartoon or skilled impression of themselves now :)

One of the few benefits of getting older is that you just stop worrying what others think. I my case that relates to my peculiar habits of:

- not being enthusiastic about GOTO :p

- disliking equatorial mounts generally B)

- trying and buying as many Tele Vue eyepieces as I can :)

- really enjoying large refractors, and I would by a Tak / / TMB / Astro Physics if and when I can :p

- owning 3 scopes more than I can use :p

If that's a disorder of some sort - yippee - I love it - please don't "cure" me :evil1:

Hope I'm not a snob though ....... :D

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LukeSkywatcher

LukeSkywatcher

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The dark side is best.

Now you visual only oldies, put down the thermos flask, take off ya leather elbow patched cardies and adopt the god that is wireless and digital camera's.

Stay warm in your house with the wife and let the technology progress mankind into the new age :D

BTW A-B : Two sugars in mine please hun :evil1:[/quote

As a visual kind of guy i find this comment offensive.

I appreciate Go-To and imaging. Its not for me though.

No need to insult.

Its all good but that is a blatant insult.

I respect you for your views..................at least respect me for mine.

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SlipperySquid

SlipperySquid

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The dark side is best.

Now you visual only oldies, put down the thermos flask, take off ya leather elbow patched cardies and adopt the god that is wireless and digital camera's.

Stay warm in your house with the wife and let the technology progress mankind into the new age :evil1:

BTW A-B : Two sugars in mine please hun :)[/quote

As a visual kind of guy i find this comment offensive.

I appreciate Go-To and imaging. Its not for me though.

No need to insult.

Its all good but that is a blatant insult.

I respect you for your views..................at least respect me for mine.

Errrrrr...I think the comment was meant to be tongue in cheek....But I totally respect the fact that people have a different sense of humour...I laughed but then again I find people that fall over incredibly funny. On the flip side I don't find cats cute and think throwing them into bins should be de rigour. :D

Excellent post A-B!!! 5 stars for making me smile on a lonley night shift!!

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pvaz

pvaz

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You definitely have a point about being cheap on the details while spending huge amounts of money on the scope / mount.

About point 2 I disagree with most of it. A hobby is something you do for fun. I leave my goto off most of the time because I enjoy learning and I relax and feel free when I do things not relying on gadgets. I think you're over thinking this. The goto vs non goto threads exist for the same reason some people like red and others like blue.

Or maybe I just missed a bit of British humour and really didn't get the point...

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rowan46

rowan46

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Errrrrr...I think the comment was meant to be tongue in cheek....But I totally respect the fact that people have a different sense of humour...I laughed but then again I find people that fall over incredibly funny. On the flip side I don't find cats cute and think throwing them into bins should be de rigour. :evil1:

My cat has just posted this comment on facebook you're so gonna get it now :D

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omneferuss

omneferuss

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"No pessimist ever discovered the secret of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new doorway for the human spirit"

your sig'

...but ""ooh! I'd never buy a MAK 'cos it might be too hard to collimate"" = your posts.

HAHaaaaa...... now yer tellin me that others are luddites and knuckle-draggers

you take the cake AB

YES, we ALL have laughable foibles. .. phobias and ego-manias... but some of us must find a balance in our turgid little lives, that means every penny saved on yuppy mass-turbation or suprematist delusions, goes toward effective spending for quality-of-life opportunities,...like amateur astronomy pursiuts with the gear we can afford

Tasco-Tesco-Gucci isn't necessarily the path for us all, yer know

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Astro_Baby

Astro_Baby

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Actually OM I do own a mak and did when I made that post. They are hard to collimate accurately without an optical bench setup. To believe that something is hard that is hard is hardly a failure of optimism.

Try collimating a Rumak sometime.....or a Klevtsov design. Its not negative to state they are hard......they are.

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WayBig

WayBig

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I like the conflict between spending big on gear, and saving a couple of quid by sticking sweet wrappers to a torck - me I used a read permanent marker on a £3.99 head torch, the <£5 I saved on that goes into an Ethos fund that will get cashed in sometime in the next century.

I response to this bit

So perhaps observing really is the 'Steam Rally' equivalent in astro - the people who still drink real ale, wear knitted jumpers, listen to folk music and love trams and everything else that rightly died out 100 years ago

Steam Rally - tick (I went to one last year, very hot, smokey, oily and..erm steamy...not my cup of char really - but the beer tent was good)

real ale - tick

knitted jumpers - no

folk music - yes please

trams - not really

not a bad start, but there are some areas I need to work on!

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RobH

RobH

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Being both an imager and visual observer, Ive a split personality ('and I hate both of them' :evil1:....John Cooper Clarke)

When I'm observing, I drink real ale, listen to folk music and wear knitted jumpers with leather patches on the elbows.....but, when the dark side takes me and I'm imaging, my best Star Trek uniform comes out (blue shirt of course).....this proves tricky at times as I often observe visually whilst imaging, so instead of a warm room, I've got a quick change room :D:D:D

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