Old CW4
BANNED
- Joined
- Sep 8, 2006
- Messages
- 870
"They" say 'There's no fool like and old fool' and here I am, almost 76 and I caught the astronomy bug. Ah well, why not? Ham radio is almost dead. It began dying when the ARRL got the FCC to lower licensing standards and the formerly polite Ham bands have become the playground for fans of foul language and zero knowledge of proper operating. I've also given up hunting in recent years and travel leaves me stone cold after 25 years in the Army and 10 more as a servile servant doing weapons assessments and testing for DoD. Also in that mix was five years as a contractor doing site security assessments for DOE. Travel was my middle name.
So, what else would be interesting and challenging? Ahhh, astronomy and unfortunately, like Ham radio, also expensive.
I'm now the (somewhat) proud owner of four scopes. Two five inch Maksutov reflectors, one seven inch Mak, and a 12 inch Dobsonian mirror reflector. One of the five inch Maks and the big Dob are equipped with 'goto' computers. You center one, two, or three stars, depending on the accuracy desired, in a crosshaired eyepiece, press 'enter' after centering each, and the scope now knows where it is. It can now 'go to' any of 40,000 different celestial objects and track it across the sky. Fantastic! I also 'sprung' for a fancy tripod and mount that is computerized and provides 'goto' for any scope mounted on it, primarily the seven inch Mak.
Such scopes and the 'goto' tripod/mount are expensive, as are the many needed (maybe) accessories. You can start out 'on the cheap' but, if you're like me, you quickly want more power, automation, choice of eyepieces, better tripods and mounts, filters, camera adapters, and so on. It's pretty much a custom market for such toys and the suppliers charge accordinagly. I splurged initially but have now reached the point where I'm well equipped for now and can back off the impulse buying.
However, I must say it's a fascinating new hobby and one that can never be completely mastered. I spent most of last night, with a super clear night sky, tracking Jupiter as it went across from east to west. I had the big planet (about 400 million miles distant) with its main band and all four of the larger moons in view for hours. This may be old hat for some of you but for me it's a whole new world.
It's equally amazing to track our moon for hours while focused on one set of craters or a mountain range in amazing detail at up to 500 power. Sometimes the views are so sharp and clear you have to keep reminding yourself what you're seeing is 240,000 miles away....!
A neat wrinkle with the smaller scopes is the ability to install correct orientation prisms for the eyepiece and you now have the world's most powerful spotting or observation scopes. The five inchers will easily go up to 250 power and the seven inch Mak to 350 or a bit more. The 12 inch Dob is too big for this with its 12 inch diameter and six foot long tube on a big and clunky mount. The Dob is superb for sky watching but not easily portable to use as a spotter. The rule of thumb for power, by the way, is approximately 50 power for each inch of the scope's diameter. You can go beyone that limit but the resolution and brightness falls off rapidly with power increases past that 50x per inch of diameter.
So what's next? I guess install or build an observatory on top of my house so I can leave the bigger scopes permanently mounted up there. I was surprised to Google 'home observatories' and discover a number of manufacturers make them, some like a miniature Mount Palomar setup, circular and rotating with a roof that opens and all that. Might be a great DIY project. I'm already considering roller skate wheels running in tracks to rotate such a structure plus how to weather proof a rool that opens. What the hay? My hobbies keep me young or at least thinking young.
So, what else would be interesting and challenging? Ahhh, astronomy and unfortunately, like Ham radio, also expensive.
I'm now the (somewhat) proud owner of four scopes. Two five inch Maksutov reflectors, one seven inch Mak, and a 12 inch Dobsonian mirror reflector. One of the five inch Maks and the big Dob are equipped with 'goto' computers. You center one, two, or three stars, depending on the accuracy desired, in a crosshaired eyepiece, press 'enter' after centering each, and the scope now knows where it is. It can now 'go to' any of 40,000 different celestial objects and track it across the sky. Fantastic! I also 'sprung' for a fancy tripod and mount that is computerized and provides 'goto' for any scope mounted on it, primarily the seven inch Mak.
Such scopes and the 'goto' tripod/mount are expensive, as are the many needed (maybe) accessories. You can start out 'on the cheap' but, if you're like me, you quickly want more power, automation, choice of eyepieces, better tripods and mounts, filters, camera adapters, and so on. It's pretty much a custom market for such toys and the suppliers charge accordinagly. I splurged initially but have now reached the point where I'm well equipped for now and can back off the impulse buying.
However, I must say it's a fascinating new hobby and one that can never be completely mastered. I spent most of last night, with a super clear night sky, tracking Jupiter as it went across from east to west. I had the big planet (about 400 million miles distant) with its main band and all four of the larger moons in view for hours. This may be old hat for some of you but for me it's a whole new world.
It's equally amazing to track our moon for hours while focused on one set of craters or a mountain range in amazing detail at up to 500 power. Sometimes the views are so sharp and clear you have to keep reminding yourself what you're seeing is 240,000 miles away....!
A neat wrinkle with the smaller scopes is the ability to install correct orientation prisms for the eyepiece and you now have the world's most powerful spotting or observation scopes. The five inchers will easily go up to 250 power and the seven inch Mak to 350 or a bit more. The 12 inch Dob is too big for this with its 12 inch diameter and six foot long tube on a big and clunky mount. The Dob is superb for sky watching but not easily portable to use as a spotter. The rule of thumb for power, by the way, is approximately 50 power for each inch of the scope's diameter. You can go beyone that limit but the resolution and brightness falls off rapidly with power increases past that 50x per inch of diameter.
So what's next? I guess install or build an observatory on top of my house so I can leave the bigger scopes permanently mounted up there. I was surprised to Google 'home observatories' and discover a number of manufacturers make them, some like a miniature Mount Palomar setup, circular and rotating with a roof that opens and all that. Might be a great DIY project. I'm already considering roller skate wheels running in tracks to rotate such a structure plus how to weather proof a rool that opens. What the hay? My hobbies keep me young or at least thinking young.
:thumbup:
), it'll have an observatory in it. along with a super swish 'scope.