It's been a lousy week for weather here. The eclipse was a bust for me on Monday, and the past two days have been rainy and cold, with high winds yesterday. Good times.
Yesterday I was in the Ontario town of Uxbridge at about 10AM. As I was driving down a street, I could have sworn I saw a dobsonian at the side of the road. I wanted to pull over, but I had already driven by a parking lot, and now I'd have to turn around, etc. I convinced myself it was probably junk and I really didn't have any room in my truck as well, so I kept going. Yet it bothered me all day...
This morning I woke up because I have a bladder the size of a peanut, so there's that. It was 4:30AM. Once again, my mind drifted to that telescope. So much for going back to sleep. I went upstairs and was greeted by Sasha the
I fed the needy beast and made myself some coffee. I ckecked Google maps, it would be a 45 minute drive to where the scope might still be, if no one else had come along in the meantime. I have nothing better to do except maybe sleep, so at 6:00 I took my wife's Civic and hit the road. What a lovely drive it was. Windy and rainy going along dark country roads with no street lights. That's a good thing for
I finally reached Uxbridge at a bit before 7AM. The car informed me it was 2C (34F) out. Yes it was, and the wind and now sleet didn't help that.
The object of my quest was about a minute away from this intersection (Brock Rd. and Toronto St., if you care).
I pulled into the parking lot, walked across the street, and look what was still there, an Orion 8"
I immediately noticed the secondary mirror was gone for some reason. However, the primary looked to have no chips or cracks, though it was dirty for sure! And as you can see, the base is done with. I wonder how long it was out there?
I unhooked the springs from what was left of the base, and carried the tube to the car. Into the back seat it went; I can see it's gonna need some work on the mirror cell:
At least the focuser is still there, though that'll need work too I'm sure. And the ID tag, which saves me some measuring:
I got home before 8, and took the scope in the back door. I took a pic of the primary, it actually looks better than the picture. The inside of the tube looks a bit ratty though:
So that's my morning so far. Now my stomach is rumbling, it's time to eat. Over the weekend I'll take a better look at all this and see where I'm at with the primary. I still have a few gallons of distilled water
I'll post back here as I go and if anyone knows where I can get a spider vane/secondary, I'm all ears!
All the best,
