So I was finally able to pick up my new scope.
A William Optics Megrez 90 (the new f/6.2 version). It's shiny! metaphorically anyway. Literally, it is more of a pebbled matte white. Me likey.
It's also my first refractor, so I'm particularly pleased with it. It was quite a saga to pick it up.
I finished work today, and rode home on my motorcycle. I had to wait till my girlfriend finished work and brought my car back to her place (don't ask).
So, waited till 6pm, then made my way down to her place on my motorcycle. That's 10kms.
From her place, I picked up my car, and drove down to where my scope was. that's another 30 kms.
Picked up scope at 7.20pm. drove it back to my house. that's another 40kms.
unloaded scope into my house, noting all the while that a magical hole in the clouds had appeared, and the stars were peeping through. Made the tough decision to have my dinner instead (around 8.30pm now). left scope boxed up at my place.
Drove MY car back to my girlfriends place so she could use it to go to work tommorrow. That's another 10kms. Took my motorcycle from her place to mine. That's another 10kms.
So it was 100kms and about 9pm before I was crouched on the carpet of the lounge room trying to figure out how to attach the red dot finder to the scope, and how dovetail plates and mounting rings work.
Lesson learned; hang the expense and get the damn thing delivered directly to my door.
About this time I'm getting nervous (first refractor, remember?) because I'm tired, and I don't want to drop my shiny (metaphorically) new scope.
With a couple of trips to the shed to borrow my dad's screwdrivers and a few allen keys, I get the thing assembled and onto my EzyTouch Mount (btw Dannat, thanks; it works a treat), just in time for the clouds to decend and cover up the sky. Completely and utterly. I had maybe 15 seconds total after taking it out of the house, getting a star (ANY star) in place to see how a refractor compares to a reflector.
It wasn't cooled to ambient, and may not have even been collimated (don't know, haven't been able to do a star test yet obviously), but it was a pretty impressive 15 seconds on that one star. Nice pinpoint, despite the inclement weather.
So, 15 seconds, and then I had to bring it inside. I may not have seen much, but at least I got to put the scope to use in the way I'd intended; as a quick look scope. I hadn't anticipated it being THAT quick though.
remind me why this is fun again?
Looking forward to this weekend's astro society viewing night. However, I'm pretty sure I've jinxed it with new scope cloud-cover.
Ah well, at least I can just put it on the back seat and go, unlike the dob.
The question now becomes; do I tempt fate and bring a list of BAM600 objects to run through for that night? Too optimistic?
and now I'm spent. Sleep time... only 5 hours till I have to get up for work. Yay!
P.S. At some point I should be able to get a side by side going of this scope and my dob. Obviously the light bucket will give a brighter image and go deeper (and resolve narrower in theory), but I can't wait to see the difference between them.
Only sure thing is it will be a Dob! Argh
