Telescope repair/maintenance?

[klingon]

Last year my partner bought a second-hand telescope on a whim, in an auction. :rolleyes:

It has been sitting in the garage ever since, and I'm sure that's really not the best place for it! For those of you who know about this kind of stuff...


Where should we take it for a general inspection and clean?
What basic care and maintenance should we give it at home?


It's a Jason Mercury 430. It is really, really grubby (it was like that when it arrived). It has a tripod and a box of bits with it somewhere...

Please excuse my ignorance about such things - I really don't know what came over him when he decided to buy it!

[vifferman]

Try Jacobs in Highbury (Birkenhead). 480 5903

[klingon]

Try Jacobs in Highbury (Birkenhead). 480 5903

Thanks. Will do!

[dipshit]

What basic care and maintenance should we give it at home?

If it looks like the one in the pic below like i suspect, then it is a refractor that is very rugged and low maintenance. Just keeping it clean and stored in a dry place so fungi cannot grow on the lenses will see many years of use.

[klingon]

That's exactly what it looks like! Thanks Mr Dipshit :)

Our garage is definitely dry... maybe it's not such a bad place to store it after all. Once we've got the lenses clean and nice we'll take it up north, away from the city, and see what we can see in that great big starry sky. :niceone:

[dipshit]

Even looking at the moon and Jupiter and Saturn from your urban backyard with that small scope will be an eye opener!

[Ixion]

Don't get me started on light pollution. How come the Greens never made an issue of that ?

Very few people under about 50 have a clue how the night should look. Not to mention the total fuckup it has made for all the night creatures whose whole ecosystem has been pretty much destroyed.

You can no longer wander at night in the darkness as you once could and see a whole different world of animal and plant life.

And 90% of it is down to bloody shopping malls and corporates.

[klingon]

Don't get me started on light pollution. How come the Greens never made an issue of that ?

Very few people under about 50 have a clue how the night should look. Not to mention the total fuckup it has made for all the night creatures whose whole ecosystem has been pretty much destroyed.

You can no longer wander at night in the darkness as you once could and see a whole different world of animal and plant life.

And 90% of it is down to bloody shopping malls and corporates.

I couldn't agree more. And there is absolutely no need for all the light spillage we get - there are perfectly good street light reflectors available that will focus plenty of light downwards (where we need it) AND save power because the light is used effectively so we can get away with lower lumens!

(Oh and various Green Parties around the world have picked this up as an issue. Just in case that was a genuine question. ;))

[Ixion]

I couldn't agree more. And there is absolutely no need for all the light spillage we get - there are perfectly good street light reflectors available that will focus plenty of light downwards (where we need it) AND save power because the light is used effectively so we can get away with lower lumens!

(Oh and various Green Parties around the world have picked this up as an issue. Just in case that was a genuine question. ;))


Yes, it was, actually. More pertinantly, why do we need all those street lights at all. Some, yes. All, no.

[klingon]

Yes, it was, actually. More pertinantly, why do we need all those street lights at all. Some, yes. All, no.

Agreed again. I realise that some people (women especially) consider it a safety issue, but actually walking in and out of pools of bright light just makes you more visible to people lurking in the shadows, and ruins your night vision so you lose some of your situational awareness.

Light pollution is a very interesting subject. As usual, there are technological solutions (newfangled fluoro tubes, electronic starters, do away with ballasts...) but the social and cultural solutions are often much more effective.

[dipshit]

very few people under about 50 have a clue how the night should look.

Move to the south island. We still have our high remote areas.

http://www.photoshare.co.nz/PhotoShareGallery1/100366/100974/IMG_2732e3ul3111.jpg

This place has absolutely nothing... not even the odd farmhouse. It is also where they want to build the big wind farm.

Pitch black skies with stars right down to the horizon...

http://www.photoshare.co.nz/PhotoShareGallery1/100366/106311/IMG_3716ul590.jpg

Excellent place to have a good look and do some astrophotography of the Milky Way...

http://www.photoshare.co.nz/PhotoShareGallery1/100366/106311/IMG_3658e3ulbig456.jpg

[dipshit]

Light pollution is a very interesting subject. As usual, there are technological solutions (newfangled fluoro tubes, electronic starters, do away with ballasts...) but the social and cultural solutions are often much more effective.


I was involved with the International Dark Sky Association that helped get 'earth hour' going a couple of years ago. Maybe people could be persuaded to waste less energy and light at night if they thought it was helping the planet....


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[Swoop]

Yes, it was, actually. More pertinantly, why do we need all those street lights at all. Some, yes. All, no.

When the D'auckland "power crisis" hit, a few years back, it was wonderful.

Why do we need electrically powered and lit bus stops? Apart from being an advertising outlet? The old ones worked fine, but now we have a bigger power bill and shattered glass on a regular basis.

[klingon]

I was involved with the International Dark Sky Association that helped get 'earth hour' going a couple of years ago. Maybe people could be persuaded to waste less energy and light at night if they thought it was helping the planet....

Oooh at last! A good excuse to get involved with Earth Hour! I have to admit I was a bit sceptical about this - how was turning your lights off for an hour a year really going to help with saving power? But now I understand - it will help people grasp what darkness means!

Must get that telescope renovated in time for Earth Hour in March...

[Warr]

...... Earth Hour in March...
For me &(those of us) too lazy to go looking ourselves... tell us more :)

[klingon]

For me &(those of us) too lazy to go looking ourselves... tell us more :)

http://www.earthhour.org/

At 8:30pm on Saturday 28 March 2009, everyone turns off their lights for an hour. It's being promoted as a way to raise awareness of a variety of environmental issues (and promoted by WWF - the World Wildlife Fund, not those wrestlers! :confused:) but I like the idea of promoting darkness so we can actually see the sky for a change!

According to the website, 538 cities in 75 countries have already signed up to take part. Last year Christchurch was the only NZ city "officially" involved, but I know a lot of people in other places who took part just for fun.