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[karl]

Hello to all at Chicago Astronomer.
I'm Karl. I live about 35 miles west of Boston.
I became interested in astronomy in the mid 90's. when I saw the Northern Lights from my home in central Florida. Very rare event ! All my observing for years was with my eyes alone. In 1997 i moved to Trinidad and lived there for 4 years. The skies are really dark there. The Milky Way was spectacular! In 2000 I moved to central MA and have been here since. Light pollution is very bad here, and the winters are brutally cold. Not an observers paradise to be sure. I got a 4.5" f8 reflector for Christmas about 8 years ago and that changed my way of looking up for good.

I received a late 70's vintage C8 a couple of months ago.
I discovered Joe's great posting on cleaning optics and modifying his C 11. I was inspired to refurbish my somewhat neglected C8.

I will be posting my progress soon.
I will be using Protostar flocking, cleaning a very dirty corrector plate, and somehow cleaning a fungus farm off my primary.
Keep watching!
Regards,
Karl

email [e-mail]

C8
4.5 reflector
80mm short refractor
8x35 bino's

Attachments:

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Karl,

I dig your Classic C8.

We have a member who has one too, (he inherited it), and he will never part with it.

I do anticipate what you have done to to the C8 and will be following along with the project... and glad you found my task on the C11 mods inspiring. It's performing beautifully, but I will perform a "Pre-Winter Season" maintenance, blowing out the interior and giving the corrector plate a last wiping down.

Collimation also needs tweaking too.

I am eager to learn more about Massachusetts astronomy.


Welcome to the Chicago Astronomer.

[mojocvh]

Aggg Orange tube C 8, awesome!

Your're a lucky guy.

I (OK now some 8 years into SERIOUS astro) think that despite the advances in coatings and drives/mount control the orange tubes do actually MEAN something beyond "brand" awareness.

Mo.

[karl]

Good Evening Mo,
Thanks for having a look at my post.
I'm kind of a hard headed old fashioned guy when it comes to observing.I've been on the brink of buying something computerized for a couple of years now. I'm glad I didn't. I still find an immense sense of triumph when I track down an object the old fashioned way, star hopping with a chart. Keep your eyes open for my adventure cleaning and tuning up my C8.
Karl

[Paulie pchris00]

Karl, I agree. There is a certain satisfaction in star hopping and finding things the old fashioned way. It's nice to have technology available, but it's more fun to test your own skills, and finding faint fuzzies the hard way in light polluted skies can be quite an achievement.

I have a 4.5" go-to, but I only use it for tracking the Moon and planets. My 6" Dob gets most of the observing time. The go-to is nice to have, but using it to "find" targets feels like cheating.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Go-tos are a great innovation.

They save a lot of time and will track down fainties quickly.

But I like and respect the astronomers who can do it manually. I can do a small handful of targets the old fashioned way, but a member of the Chicago Astronomer team can track them all down with great ease. We are all amazed at the ability.

Anticipating the C8 project.

[mojocvh]

I still find an immense sense of triumph when I track down an object the old fashioned way, star hopping with a chart.

Absolutly, I remember my first astro "find" I was using my 100X25 binoculars some 5/6 years ago, a comet ( in the ENE I've forgotten it's name ) and had to star hop to an approximate position to search for it, eventually just finding it with averted vision, it was one of those moments that hook you for life.

However with the ever increasing encroachment of local LP that I appear to suffer from these days, that may be well in the past (when the cloud gods eventually smile). Then my PROPERLY aligned goto has saved the day/night for me allowing me to continue my astronomy adventures.

all the best

Andy B.