Yay i finally got my baby fixed :)

[Jen]

Ok after 4 months of having a big dent in my tube it has finally been fixed :D so now im out and about freezing my butt off :windy:
checking out Jupiter :eyepop: im having the time of my life apart from freezing
But i think it is all out of whack now and ive done the collimating thing (i think) but no mattter what i do it never looks any different :sadeyes::help: is there any Swan Hill people around these threads :screwy:

[Matty P]

Hi Jen,

That is great news, it must be good to have your scope back.

I'm pretty sure iceworks lives close by, he just got a 20 inch SDM reflector. http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=33101

:thumbsup:

[acropolite]

Jen, get yourself a freezer suit and boots.. IIS member Geoff (GTB_an_Owl) at http://www.gtbastrowise.com.au/ (http://www.gtbastrowise.com.au/) has them. Once you have a freezer suit you'll never go cold again.

[AstralTraveller]

You've been quiet for a while; nice to hear from you again :hi:. It sounds as though you need to speak to the owl about a freezer suit:bowdown:. I went for the jacket only and boots. [I use heavy corderay pants with two-layer track pants over them.]

Sorry but I've forgotten what 'scope you have and I don't know what eyepiece you are using. I also don't know how you have collimated. Are you disappointed with the view or do you just wonder whether it could be better? Jupiter isn't a great test of collimation. Centre a bright star at about 200x and rack it out of focus until you can see the Airy disc. The disc and ring should look nice and symmetrical.

If collimation is OK there are other things that can degrade images: tube currents (mirror not cool), stray light and internal reflections are three common ones.

[Kevnool]

Head to mildura for the oasis stargazers star party in mildura on November 14th i hope they confirm it Broken Hill observers will be there heres there website...cheers Kev. http://mc2.vicnet.net.au/home/astrogroup/web/index.html

[Dennis]

That's great news Jen. Good luck with the collimation and stay warm! I’ll second the freezer suit suggestion – warm as toast inside even when it’s -4 deg C outside.

Plus, even though it’s quite bulky, I don’t find it as restrictive as wearing many thinner layers, although thinner layers are more versatile in donning and doffing to warm up or cool down.

Cheers

Dennis

[astronut]

Jen,
For your collimation, go to www.andysshotglass.com (http://www.andysshotglass.com) there's a great video that will help you through the process.:thumbsup:

[Ric]

Hi Jen, good to see your up and running. Your now into the best part of the year even if it is a bit chilly. hope you sort your collimation out, theres a lot of good advice in the previous posts.

Cheers

[Dog Star]

Glad to hear you're "up and about" Jen. Hope the weather is kind to you:thumbsup:

[Jen]

OMG did u just say what i think u just said a 20INCH :eyepop::eyepop::eyepop:
wow how cool and he lives near me woohooo there is a god hahahha im gonna hunt this guy down ive gotta check this out ;):eyepop: thank you so much Matty :thumbsup: ive been wanting to start up an astromony group around this town he looks like the man to start it wif hehe but dam im gonna hide my scope when he is around i only have a 6inch :doh: hes gonna want me to spend money LMAO i wanna land on his doorstep right now :lol:
cheers

[Jen]

mmm sounds like a great idea to me i sneak into bed at 5am :whistle: covering up the clock so hubby dosnt know what time i crawled into bed :lol: and i give it away cause im so dam cold and i think the chattering of my teeth wakes him up oops :lol::lol:

[Ric]

Careful Jen, you'll catch apeture fever.:lol:

[Jen]

Hey there Astral its great to be back staring into the nite sky and being in here on the crappy nites just to get my fix :lol::lol:
i have a skywatcher 150mm reflector, i used the film cannister tecnique wif the hole in it for collimation grrrr using the 25mm eyepiece (jen really has no idea what she is doing):help:when i go to the moon i see stripes of white come into the scope before i get to the moon :screwy: and im sure i havnt had that many drinks hahaha :D:whistle: and i think there is 2 saturns up there in the sky :scared3: ive gotta find this iceworks guy he seems to be the man :thumbsup:

[Jen]

:rofl::rofl::rofl:
LOL Ric i think its already too late ive already got it from just thinking about it LMAO thanks guys for all your friendly advice :thumbsup:
i sooo love this site ;)

[Screwdriverone]

Good to have you back Jen,

We missed you and all the emoticons. :lol:

Cheers

Chris

[Jen]

:thumbsup:
LMAO Thanks Chris its great to be back :D before u know it u will be sick of all my emoticons ;):whistle:and stoopid questions :stupid:
:cool:

[Matty P]

Hey Jen,

Is there an emoticon limit? :P :lol:

[Jen]

:lol::lol::lol::lol:
well i was hoping for some new ones cause i think i have used all the ones on here :D
:face:

[AstralTraveller]

OK. Think about a Cheshire eyepiece and perhaps a laser collimator. However the symptoms you describe aren't collimation related.

The stripes are internal reflections in the tube - light from the moon bouncing off the inside of the tube. They are standard on a newtonian. You can make them less by putting a light shield on the front of the scope and/or blackening the inside of the tube (flocking or paint) and/or flocking the inside of the focusser. That will also improve the image contrast.

Having two Saturns sounds like thermal problems. If the situation improves later in the night it is certainly heat from the primary creating a warm boundary layer just above the mirror. A cooling fan will help. There are a number of opinions as to where it should be - behind the mirror is normal but some prefer it in the side of the tube just above the mirror - and whether it should suck or blow (don't try to be funny, all the jokes have been made). The issues have been discussed on IIS before.

[Jen]

Hey there Astral i was wondering that but the inside of my tube is already black the light seems to come from those 4 thingys that hold the secondry mirror in place :shrug:
Oh and getting a cooling fan well it cant get much colder out there lol my scope is left outside all day and night under my verandah i have managed to get in touch with Iceworks the guy wif the 20inch :D :D he lives near me :D:P so i might get him to show me what to do cheers Thanks Astral :thumbsup:

:lol::lol::lol::lol: Oh dam it i wanted to be funny :lol: :whistle: do we have a humor thread in here cause i like a giggle every now and again its good for ya ;)

[erick]

This is serious business! You are corrupting us, wanting to giggle all the time! :P

It is argued that leaving the cooling fan on all night (until batteries run out anyway! :doh:) provides a steady flow of air up the tube (if your fan blows - which is the only thing a fan should do!!), reducing the likelihood of dew formation on the primary and maybe on the secondary mirror. So far in my experience, I think it seems to, but folks will argue yes and no! :shrug:

[Jen]

:hi: :P:D;) lol @ corrupting u ;)

ok does it hurt to put a blanky over my tube to keep it warm or is that a no no too :help::stupid:

[AstralTraveller]

Your tube isn't as black as it seems, especially at shallow angles. Point the scope at a fairly blank area of the sky and shine a torch down the tube so that it misses the mirror and the vanes of the spider (the 'thingies') while looking in the eyepiece. See what I mean?

The issue with cold is the difference in temperature between the air in the tube and the mirror. The mirror should be within 1-2C of the air. Trouble is the air cools much quicker at night than the mirror can. Hence you get thermals in the tube. In large scopes the mirror will never keep up with the falling air temperature all night without some help. For a 15cm scope it should get to equilibrium but it still takes a while.

Humour sometimes surfaces in the General Chat section but, of course, I would never partake of such friviolities. Never, never, I promise.

[Jen]

:lol::lol::lol::lol:
:D:P

[renormalised]

Jen, there's a proper term for those 4 thingies... it's franglesnyder (singular) and franglesnyders (plural):P:P:D

[erick]

I thought plural was "les franglesnydii" :shrug:

[Jen]

:D :lol::lol::lol:
thanks Renormalised i was wondering what those thingys were called :scared3: :stupid:
:P

[renormalised]

And those other thingies you use to collimate your scope with are groobleswonkers:P:D

[Jen]

:lol::lol::lol: now i think u are pulling my leg i will go to a star party one day and call them that and they will think what are you on woman :D:P
and i will be like renormalised told me to call them that :lol:
:face:

[renormalised]

My arms aren't that long:P:D

[Jen]

:lol::lol::P

:poke:
:D

[Ric]

I always thought they were the Flintle Woodly Bits. :whistle:

[Jen]

:screwy::screwy::lol: Now ya really confusing me :D
:doh:

[Ric]

Sorry Jen my mistake, they are the bits to align the finderscope. ;)

[Jen]

:lol::lol:
Yeah those things :P

[renormalised]

The furgledangsprong is the little dance you do when you see something for the first time and it blows your mind away:P:P:D:D

[Jen]

:cool:
:D

[AstralTraveller]

I thought it was a fungus. Oh well, same diff.

[AstralTraveller]

Your tube isn't as black as it seems, especially at shallow angles.

Sorry Jen, I think I mislead you, sort of. I still say you will have reflections off the tube, but if the 'stripes' you mention are at 90 degree then, yes, it is from you spider. You should see this on any bright star when centred. With the moon they may even be visible before the moon is in view. Your spider vanes also aren't black enough. Trouble is that applying flocking will only make the vanes thicker and more of a problem. Very black paint is probably the only way to improve things (you will never eliminate it). The type of paint is on the forum somewhere.

Cheers,
Dave

[Jen]

[quote=AstralTraveller;339408]
:hi: Hey Dave thank you for sharing your knowledge i might look into that cheers there is a lot of helpful people around here i wish i found this site much sooner cheers
:2thumbs: