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I might have known as this one “The Fifty-12 months-Previous
Telescope” or possibly “SHE LIVES!” Maybe even “Typically You
Haven’t Moved on After All.” What in tarnation is Uncle Rod goin’ on
about now? Has anyone been spikin’ his Geritol with Insurgent Yell? All
shall be revealed, muchachos, all shall be revealed…you simply need to train a
little persistence along with your more and more addled outdated Uncle.
Anyhow, I needed to get a June 2022 difficulty of the weblog up,
however it was clear now was not the time to attempt to proceed one in all my two present
observing initiatives, “City Astronomer” and “The New Herschel Mission.” Why? You
know the way it’s been in many of the nation in mid-June—scorching, and I do imply h-o-t-t
scorching. It’s in all probability been unhealthy sufficient in your a part of the USA, so you may think about what
it’s been like manner down right here on the borders of the Nice Possum Swamp.
If you happen to can’t, I’ll spell it out for you: “Seems like 95F (plus)
manner after sundown.” Oh, and that mild pollution-scattering haze from
stagnant high-pressure programs? Lookin’ up on the sky has been like seeing stars
immersed in a bowl of milk. So, it ‘peared it might be “No weblog for you!”
Until early one scorching night I used to be strolling again to the primary home from my radio
shack/workshop, the vaunted Batcave.
It may be boring out in right here suburbia if’n you’re retired…properly,
until you might have an newbie radio license (your ol’ Uncle Rod has had one
since 1969). There isn’t any scarcity of issues to do on scorching days and hazy nights
if you will get on the air. Particularly if you are able to do so from the air-conditioned
consolation of a shack just like the Batcave, which I had a contractor finish-off about 4
years in the past (it started life as a indifferent storage). Anyhoo, having pulled the Large
Swap on my beloved Icom IC-7610, I used to be heading again to the home to
stock the Insurgent Yell <ahem>, when my eyes lit upon the Thirty-Seven-12 months-Previous
Telescope.
I wrote a weblog entry about this outdated instrument some 14 years
in the past. If you happen to’re , learn the story of the telescope that started life as a mirror package I acquired as a commencement present in 1971. Ol’ 37 was a very good telescope, and I used her purty ceaselessly for six
years. However then she met her close to demise.
Miss Dorothy and I decamped from legendary Chaos Manor
South for the suburbs following my early retirement at age 59 in 2014. Ol’ 37, in fact, went with us, however I by no means
fairly discovered a spot for her. She spent a while within the not-yet-finished
Batcave. And he or she spent some extra time in a nook of the sunroom. Till…
I’ve made no secret in these pages I had a tough time
adjusting to retirement. Very tough. I went from 30 years as an
engineer working loads of 12-hour days to “Nicely, whatta I do now?” I gained’t
say extra about that immediately, since I’ve largely come to phrases with it, and also you’d
simply discover the small print boring. Be that as it might, 2015 was a significantly
robust 12 months to your outdated Uncle…
One afternoon in the summertime of that misbegotten annum, I
practically knocked Ol’ 37 over within the sunroom. On the time, I had little or no
persistence for something, had had sufficient of the scope being continuously underfoot, grabbed
her up, took her to the carport, and stashed her on a shelf. A shelf open to
the weather, although, in fact, partially protected within the carport.
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| Working Place Quantity One at W4NNF… |
By the point 2016 was half over, your correspondent was starting
to really feel higher, however I kinda forgot concerning the scope. Oh, I’d see her when l’d
drive in, and typically I’d assume, “Actually must do one thing about poor Ol’
37,” however normally I regarded proper by means of her. The one good? On that day in ’15 I
had at the least exerted some effort to seal each ends of the tube with plastic sheeting
and masking tape. And the shelf was, yeah, considerably protected. However… Almost seven
years handed with my outdated good friend sitting on her dusty perch.
Then, only a few days in the past, as above I used to be strolling again to
the home from the shack and my eyes lit upon the scope as they typically did. One thing
was completely different this time, although. I started to consider the wearyingly lengthy
years the poor factor had sat on that wretched shelf ready for a style of
starlight that by no means got here. I used to be immediately overcome with regret and the resolve
to do one thing about it. I grabbed a step ladder, obtained her down, and
brushed a few of the thick layer of mud and dirt off earlier than heading to the ‘Cave
together with her.
As you gained’t be stunned to listen to, after seven years the plastic
and masking tape sealing the tube had deteriorated to the purpose all of it crumbled
after I started to rigorously take away it. Frankly, I used to be afraid of what I would
discover. Would I be years too late to avoid wasting her?
Nope…trying down the tube I might see the first mirror
was dusty and badly in want of a shower, however not far gone in any respect. The identical was
true of the secondary. I eliminated the first and the secondary from the tube by
the straightforward expedient of pulling the entire spider meeting (a pleasant curved one which
produces no diffraction spikes) and first cell. I stashed ‘em within the kitchen
for cleansing after I did one thing about that horribly dirty tube.
I didn’t take an image of the tube in “earlier than” situation, campers.
Frankly, I used to be embarrassed to share that with you. The mud of years…spiderwebs…bug
poop… It was so unhealthy the one technique to assault it was with a backyard hose and rags and
a bottle of Daybreak dishwashing detergent. As you may see, she cleaned up somewhat
properly. Oh, the lady won’t ever look nearly as good as she did in just-painted situation,
however is ok.
I might seize a can of Krylon and repaint the tube. Nonetheless, I
have determined towards that…possibly it’s finest to let the OTA be and function a cautionary
story to your outdated Uncle regarding being too hasty. I ought to have stopped,
counted to 10, and returned Ol’ 37 to the Batcave somewhat than exiling her to
the carport.
Would the optics dwell once more? I cleaned them rigorously with
water and slightly Daybreak and, sure, they might. They’re not
pristine. There are a few spots on the secondary. And on the first too.
There’s additionally a “glossy” that’s really extra of a scratch on the periphery of
the primary mirror. Nonetheless, that has been there for the reason that mirror returned from
the fricking-fracking coater, Spectrum, who put it there. Fortunately, it
impacts nothing.
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| On the working desk… |
What else? The focuser was in surprisingly good condition,
although the great rubber friction-strips on the knobs had lengthy since rotted away
and fallen off. Focus motion was as clean as ever. A few the eyepiece setscrews
had been a mite rusty, so I blasted them with a staple within the shack, DeOxit,
they usually had been, if not like new, at the least higher.
Lastly, I mounted a Synta-style finder shoe on the tube
with double-sided tape. Yeah, there was a Telrad base on the OTA already, however I
was stunned to seek out I not have a working Telrad (!). I’ve converted
to Rigel Fast Finders and didn’t have an additional base (I might find) for one.
I figured a Synta crimson dot sight can be sufficient for goto alignments.
Time to get the outdated gal’s optics reinstalled. Meeting was
straightforward sufficient…although it was a minor wrestle to get the picket main cell again
within the not fairly spherical tube and screwed down. Nothing a couple of minutes and a
little persistence couldn’t see to, although. Naturally, after
eradicating and reinstalling each main and secondary mounts, the scope would
have to be collimated. I went as much as the primary home and fetched my Celestron
combo Cheshire/sight-tube. And stopped lifeless in my tracks.
It had been a protracted, very long time since I’d collimated a Newtonian
that wanted something greater than a minor touch-up. My single different Newt, Zelda, a 10-inch GSO Dobsonian reflector, holds her
collimation remarkably properly. Since we haven’t traveled to any star events or
even the native dark-site since Covid started, she hasn’t wanted any consideration at
all. So…to my embarrassment, I spotted I’d kinda forgotten what to do. Embarrassing,
sure, however I recalled I’d completed an in depth article on collimating in these very pages years in the past. My very own phrases would see me by means of.
Certainly, they did. The secondary was solely off a mite. And the
identical was true, somewhat surprisingly, for the picket main cell. In about 5
minutes collimation was completed and it might be attainable to get the outdated lady underneath
the celebs and see how she would possibly fare. Frankly, even after rereading the above article
on ol’ 37, I didn’t have a lot reminiscence of what her photos had been like. So, I used to be curious
to say the very least.
When would I
fulfill that curiosity? Why, the very subsequent night. I had initially supposed to
wait until late afternoon to set the scope up, however knew if I did, it may not
get completed in any respect. The warmth and humidity on the tail-end of a Possum Swamp
afternoon can be simply an excessive amount of to your more and more feeble Unk. Now, after I
was a boy, establishing a telescope early was normally a recipe for catastrophe. I’d
get distracted by a TV present, and when it was over, I’d be reluctant to stroll out
into a very darkish yard for worry of what could be ready with
the scope. Higher to assemble the Pal Junior in early night and stick by
her aspect because the shadows lengthened.
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| Not lookin’ unhealthy in any respect… |
In these latter days, although? Neither TV, nor the Little Gray
Dudes from Zeta Reticuli II, nor Mothman, nor Lon Chaney Jr’s Wolfman has a
maintain on me. That’s one good thing about getting older, I suppose—if magic of any kind,
good or unhealthy, going away might ever be a profit. So, up went Ol’ 37 on the cusp
of a morning that wasn’t but violently scorching.
No, it wasn’t terribly not, not but…however it was scorching sufficient I
went for “straightforward.” My lovely Losmandy GM811G ain’t robust to get arrange, however nothing
(properly, no goto-equipped GEM) is less complicated than the Superior VX. So, the Celestron mount
it was. Along with the convenience of erecting it, it has the benefit I do know its
hand management and its quirks usually so properly I can virtually align it with
my eyes closed. On a scorching and breathless night just like the one positive to come back, I
didn’t need to idiot round with remembering which button to push. OK, mount up, Ol’ 37 on mount…slightly balancing, and we was completed.
Nicely, nearly. I hopped all the way down to Publix on this heat Sunday
morning for a 2025 button cell battery for the SkyWatcher red-dot finder and a
couple of bathe caps to function Ol’ 37’s aperture covers. That completed,
I needed to admit she didn’t look half unhealthy. No, not unhealthy in any respect. However the one proof
within the astro-pudding is a night underneath the celebs. I’d anticipate that earlier than
getting extra excited concerning the outdated telescope’s obvious resurrection.
And wait Unk did. This time of 12 months, it’s nearly
2100L earlier than it’s darkish sufficient to start a goto alignment. “Oh, properly, possibly it’ll have cooled off by Astronomical Twilight.” Nope. Strolling out of the home was
like strolling into that proverbial steam tub. However I did persevere, for some time anyway.
How did it go? I’ll give ya the nice and the unhealthy…
The Good…
As above, I truthfully didn’t have a clue what to anticipate of this
outdated mirror begun by moi and completed by proficient ATM, Pat Rochford. However
it was simply nice. No, extra than nice, darned good as a matter of truth.
As is surprisingly typically the case down right here of late, the seeing wasn’t actually
nice regardless of the excessive stress we had been underneath. Advancing entrance? I dunno, however
close to as I might inform, the star check was fairly good.
The focuser labored in addition to it ever had, simply dealing with
a 35mm TeleVue panoptic. Because of the high quality of my alignment (beneath), I figgered
I’d higher keep on with a low-powered discovering eyepiece.
Possibly better of all? Being on the sphere with a white-tube
Newtonian telescope introduced a flood of reminiscences speeding
again. Ol’ 37’s aperture was bigger than that of the Pal Junior and the mount far
extra refined, however all-in-all, the expertise was very like what I
keep in mind of that long-gone eve within the Swamp.
The Unhealthy…
The SkyWatcher BB gun red-dot sight was nowhere. I
might solely get it adjusted roughly, so it barely coincided with what was within the
eyepiece. And the extra I fiddled with it, the more severe it obtained. With sweat dripping
into my eyes, I made a decision a “adequate” goto alignment was, properly, adequate.
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| She lives! |
It had been a very long time since I’d used a Newtonian on an
equatorial mount, and, good God, these altering eyepiece positions are a
ache. Yeah, I might rotate the tube in its rings, however the somewhat plebian
Synta-made tube-rings on Ol’ 37 imply doing so is a recipe for catastrophe. The
tube will need to slide out of ‘em and I’ll need to kick the tripod within the course of, ruining
my goto alignment.
The collimation might stand a touchup, however I properly determined
this miserably shut evening was not one for essaying that.
Did I point out it was scorching and humid?
Which doesn’t imply I didn’t see a few cool issues.
Whereas the haze was rising steadily, each M13 and M3 had been good. Going from the 35mm Panoptic
to the 8mm Ethos (as soon as I discovered I’d want an extension tube for it to come back
to focus) delivered some somewhat convincing decision, even of tight M13.
Actually, I’d have been thrilled to see the ball of stars really trying
like a ball of stars on the long-ago evening recounted within the hyperlink above. Going
from 4-inches, even to incorporate a 4-inch refractor, to 6-inches actually does
make a distinction.
M13 considered for a good size of time, I made a decision to drag the
Large Swap. Observing is meant to be enjoyable, in any case, and I used to be starting to
really feel depressing. Inside with a cool sarsaparilly, I recovered and deliberate what’s
subsequent for the outdated telescope.
“Subsequent” is order a Fast Finder base (from Scopestuff, my
normal supply for such issues). That can make an enormous distinction. When will I
give Ol’ 37 one other probability? I gained’t anticipate cool climate—which could be a protracted
time coming—however I will anticipate higher than this.
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