Karma And The Eyepiece

[JayTee]

Greetings Village Folk,

I am a firm believer in Karma. I believe we each possess a depository where good Karma is stored and bad Karma takes away from your store of good Karma. I always try to keep a very healthy plus account in my Karma depository. Two nights ago I think it paid off.

As I was observing Jupiter through my CPC1100, I reached down to grab a higher power eyepiece from the tripod caddy and I heard a Kerthunk! and then I was waiting for the follow-on Kerthunks! but didn't hear them. I immediately stopped what I was doing because we all know how horrible that sound is. I looked around and I noticed that the diagonal in the business end of my scope which used to be right side up was now wrong side down and the eyepiece that used to be in that diagonal was no longer there. I looked around and saw that the eyepiece had landed on the central plastic pedestal where the fork arms connect on the CPC mount, a fall of about 8" (20cm). There it was, the eyepiece did not fall to the ground plus, it was not damaged. Additionally, I have gotten lazy in my old age and partly exacerbated by the fact that I get so few nights to observe that I take short cuts, so I no longer put down a 6' (2M) square piece of carpet to protect anything that gravity may grab ahold of. So that EP falling onto hard concrete would most likely have been fatal!

Note to self: tighten all screws tightly before turning your back on your gear! For those new to this hobby, I've been using telescopes for 55 years and I'm having to remind myself to tighten screws -- ooof!

Thank you good karma,
JT

[John Baars]

You were lucky there!
I'm in the "business" some 50 years now and like you I still have to remember myself of tightening all screws. I think you and I could start a post full of horror stories about bad Karma and Mr. Murphy. Smashing secondaries on the main mirror, escaping eyepieces, burned crosshairs....and so on and on..

[drock]

Yeah, you used up some karma points on that one. Glad all is safe.

[pakarinen]

I looked around and I noticed that the diagonal in the business end of my scope which used to be right side up was now wrong side down and the eyepiece that used to be in that diagonal was no longer there.

Been there, done that. Luckily once was over a wood deck and once over a hardwood floor and not concrete.

[helicon]

I had the same thing happen on my AR152 JT, the diagonal swiveled and my 30mm SuperView eyepiece fell about 3.5' to my deck. Fortunately it is wooden so there was no damage. I believe I used up some of my karma during that episode. Glad everything was OK!

[turboscrew]

I'm so new I haven't had a chance yet...

[JayTee]

I'm in the "business" some 50 years now and like you I still have to remember myself of tightening all screws. I think you and I could start a post full of horror stories about bad Karma and Mr. Murphy. Smashing secondaries on the main mirror, escaping eyepieces, burned crosshairs....and so on and on..

That we could, and it would read as a true horror story.

JT

[Bigzmey]

Close call with happy ending. Having a mat under the scope is a good idea, but we tend to get lazy and laxed with time.

[terrynak]

Close call, thanks for sharing JT.

I've knocked over a few 0.965" EPs that were on observing table onto the hard concrete a few months back, but hopefully they didn't do any damage. Can't tell by the views through the EPs. Anyways, better to have them in the observing tray on the tripod of my 60mm scopes (classics).

[MistrBadgr]

Thanks for the reminder! At this point, I think it needful. However, I have this problem that I have to keep at least one screw loose, or I would not be the same person.

I do get the point about karma. Even though it does not make purely logical sense, it does seem to be the way things work out. I wonder if using more expensive eyepieces requires a larger reserve of karma than using cheaper ones. I will think about that for a while. Might be a medicine in there somewhere for eyepiece fever!

I congratulate your escape from what could have been a bad situation!

[Butterfly Maiden]

Greetings Village Folk,

I am a firm believer in Karma. I believe we each possess a depository where good Karma is stored and bad Karma takes away from your store of good Karma. I always try to keep a very healthy plus account in my Karma depository. Two nights ago I think it paid off.
Thank you good karma,
JT

I don't think there's anything wrong with that at all JT.

If the belief gives you peace of mind and works for you, then go with it :smile:

[Greenman]

Close call with happy ending. Having a mat under the scope is a good idea, but we tend to get lazy and laxed with time.

To be fair, some of us start in that state

JT - Glad the eyepiece survived. I was working on grass last night, and had been merrily swapping glass. Now, I have a spice rack on the table I use, but I hadn’t been bothering with putting the swapsies in it. In one clumsy episode I knock the 25mm off, and picked it up, only to knock the 12mm that started the trouble off the table. Karma used considerable.

At times grass is your friend. Field grass that is.

[DeanD]

I guess the question is "How do we build good Astronomical karma?". Does it depend on how many people you have shown through a scope, or how many scopes you have donated to others, or how many people you have helped fix their scopes, etc? How many karma points do we get for each good astronomical deed? Let's get scientific about it!

My TV76 slipped out of the mount and landed in my unsuspecting hand one day (in the dark of course). I wonder how many karma points I used up for that one?