The Hankmeister, Venus, two cats and a case...
Posted: Sat Nov 27, 2021 1:33 am
Hey everyone; as always, I hope you're well 
I wish I could say the same. Not been a good few weeks for me, stomach-wise. Some time ago I found out I had Crohn's disease, though with medication it's been bearable. But the past few weeks... Wow. I have a hospital appointment next week (Tuesday) and am really not looking forward to it. When I heard about what will be done to me... You're gonna put what where now? Is this even legal??
End of whine
This past Wednesday I got in from work at 3PM and, though the morning was cloudy and snowy, it cleared up towards dinnertime. Nice, and I was feeling good for once. Time for a peek through the Hankmeister, a Celestron 8SE. That was given to me by another Mark on here, AKA John Donne. You can read about that here.
All my other scopes are just purchases; this one actually has meaning for me
For the moment, I mount that beastie on a pipe mount I built for it. It's been through a few iterations, from concept to It should be good now...
This was the concept, using parts I had lying around. That Vixen mount is good for up to 4", but an eight? Scary! Plus it shook a lot, the pipe running vertically is 18" (~45cm's), and with the weight on the top...
From November 1st. A couple of support bars from an old workbench for stiffening welded up to the vertical pipe made the difference, plus a beefier Vixen scope mount and the three legs I welded onto the rim.
I had my first looks at Jupiter and Saturn with this build that night. It's still burned into my memory! Cloud belts on Jupiter and Saturn, the Cassini division, and a total of nine Moons. I have never seen those two planets quite like that before. And the mount is rock solid, no shakes at all, even with trying. The two handles are great for steering it all, and between the valve grinding compound/tar/axle grease on the alt and az axis', they're like butter...
Seriously, dear reader, I wish you could come over here and give it a try. I guarantee it would make you smile
A quick pic tonight... Since the tube weighs about 12lbs, I adjusted the weights to 10lbs instead of twenty. I also had painted the legs white. This way I can see them in the dark As a side note, I made the legs high enough so the rim would clear my feet with winter boots on. The whole mount with weights on weighs in at 45lbs (~20kgs).
OK, back to this past Wednesday. it's now 6:30PM, the Sun is gone though it's still mild twilight and I can feel the humidity rising. This will be short, I'm sure.
Swinging the scope to the south-west, I focused on Venus which was about 20* above the horizon. A sharp crescent through my KK 18mm, but no detail. No surprise there. My 12.5mm was too much, so back to the 18mm and Saturn. Wow. Even though the skies were not the best, I could see the cloud belts and the Cassini division, and as I found out later, three Moons. You gotta love an 8" atf/ 10, a planet killer for sure!!
Jupiter was still behind the trees, so I thought to see if I could use myDSLR , a Canon EOS 550D on it and take some shots of Venus, what with it being the brightest target. The scope came to focus easily, and I snapped a few shots. This is a single frame at ISO 800 and 1/800th sec exposure.
I took the camera out of the scope, put the diagonal/lens back in it, and brought my camera inside. My wife asked me how it went, I said absolutely great, and went back out hoping for some more views. Yeah, silly me expecting that to happen. Remember those clouds I spoke of? They saw me and rolled right in...
Alrighty, the clouds have won; time to bring it all in/put it away. The scope came in first, then I went back outside and put the mount away in the shed and locked everything up. When I came back inside, I discovered there was anothercat in the case the Hankmeister was in...
That case has been on the living room floor for a month and a half now; actually from Oct. 1st, the day I got the scope. A certain feline claimed it, and it's since been lined with blankets to keep the excess fur from building up. Thankfully Sarah washed those today while Mum and I were at work. Gotta love teenagers who can do housework!
The scope might be bigger all around (literally), but I will say the feline weighs more!!
I refrained from placing a silver spoon off to the side before taking the above pic. "Two cats in a case with a silver spoon...." Oh, I can visualize the ban hammers being thrown at me right now
An odd thing about Sasha... We got her at the shelter, and she was fixed. After I got the scope and Sasha liked sleeping in it, Sarah gave Sasha one of her little stuffed cats. Sasha carries that around by the scruff of its neck, from the couch to the case. She even licks/washes it. In this pic from tonight, Sasha once again has her "kitten". The stuffedcat to the right, she has no interest in it except using it for a pillow. She arranged her kitten, we had nothing to do with it. She seems quite paternal with it, how does that happen with a fixed cat ? I'd say that's worthy of some research...
And I'm wondering if, now that I have this 8SE, if I should sell my 10" (250P) SkywatcherDob ? This was a $300 rescue four years ago; it needed help. But it was worth it, and these sell for almost 1K here; tax brings it to about $1140. And that's if you can find one... Still, most people probably would probably want "factory", not my rescue. Funny thing is, it weighs less and is smoother on the alt axis than the factory offering 
I probably shouldn't sell it. I put a lot of TLC into it, and getting rid of it would bring my scope count to single digits; and we can't be having that. Isn't that bad luck or something?
Well, it's currently cloudy here, with snow forecast for tonight and a current balmy temp of -5C (23F). But it is Friday. I am going to do absolutely nothing from here on in until I wake up tomorrow.
Then, I have a few PM's to get back to...
Linken Park's Waiting For The End just finished. Mine and Sarah's all time favorite tune to sing together, especially while driving.
So, on that note...Thanks for reading my drivel. All my best to you all; you're all the best
I wish I could say the same. Not been a good few weeks for me, stomach-wise. Some time ago I found out I had Crohn's disease, though with medication it's been bearable. But the past few weeks... Wow. I have a hospital appointment next week (Tuesday) and am really not looking forward to it. When I heard about what will be done to me... You're gonna put what where now? Is this even legal??
End of whine
This past Wednesday I got in from work at 3PM and, though the morning was cloudy and snowy, it cleared up towards dinnertime. Nice, and I was feeling good for once. Time for a peek through the Hankmeister, a Celestron 8SE. That was given to me by another Mark on here, AKA John Donne. You can read about that here.
All my other scopes are just purchases; this one actually has meaning for me
For the moment, I mount that beastie on a pipe mount I built for it. It's been through a few iterations, from concept to It should be good now...
This was the concept, using parts I had lying around. That Vixen mount is good for up to 4", but an eight? Scary! Plus it shook a lot, the pipe running vertically is 18" (~45cm's), and with the weight on the top...
From November 1st. A couple of support bars from an old workbench for stiffening welded up to the vertical pipe made the difference, plus a beefier Vixen scope mount and the three legs I welded onto the rim.
I had my first looks at Jupiter and Saturn with this build that night. It's still burned into my memory! Cloud belts on Jupiter and Saturn, the Cassini division, and a total of nine Moons. I have never seen those two planets quite like that before. And the mount is rock solid, no shakes at all, even with trying. The two handles are great for steering it all, and between the valve grinding compound/tar/axle grease on the alt and az axis', they're like butter...
Seriously, dear reader, I wish you could come over here and give it a try. I guarantee it would make you smile
A quick pic tonight... Since the tube weighs about 12lbs, I adjusted the weights to 10lbs instead of twenty. I also had painted the legs white. This way I can see them in the dark
As a side note, I made the legs high enough so the rim would clear my feet with winter boots on. The whole mount with weights on weighs in at 45lbs (~20kgs).OK, back to this past Wednesday. it's now 6:30PM, the Sun is gone though it's still mild twilight and I can feel the humidity rising. This will be short, I'm sure.
Swinging the scope to the south-west, I focused on Venus which was about 20* above the horizon. A sharp crescent through my KK 18mm, but no detail. No surprise there. My 12.5mm was too much, so back to the 18mm and Saturn. Wow. Even though the skies were not the best, I could see the cloud belts and the Cassini division, and as I found out later, three Moons. You gotta love an 8" at
Jupiter was still behind the trees, so I thought to see if I could use my
I took the camera out of the scope, put the diagonal/lens back in it, and brought my camera inside. My wife asked me how it went, I said absolutely great, and went back out hoping for some more views. Yeah, silly me expecting that to happen. Remember those clouds I spoke of? They saw me and rolled right in...
Alrighty, the clouds have won; time to bring it all in/put it away. The scope came in first, then I went back outside and put the mount away in the shed and locked everything up. When I came back inside, I discovered there was another
That case has been on the living room floor for a month and a half now; actually from Oct. 1st, the day I got the scope. A certain feline claimed it, and it's since been lined with blankets to keep the excess fur from building up. Thankfully Sarah washed those today while Mum and I were at work. Gotta love teenagers who can do housework!
The scope might be bigger all around (literally), but I will say the feline weighs more!!
I refrained from placing a silver spoon off to the side before taking the above pic. "Two cats in a case with a silver spoon...." Oh, I can visualize the ban hammers being thrown at me right now
An odd thing about Sasha... We got her at the shelter, and she was fixed. After I got the scope and Sasha liked sleeping in it, Sarah gave Sasha one of her little stuffed cats. Sasha carries that around by the scruff of its neck, from the couch to the case. She even licks/washes it. In this pic from tonight, Sasha once again has her "kitten". The stuffed
And I'm wondering if, now that I have this 8SE, if I should sell my 10" (250P) Skywatcher
I probably shouldn't sell it. I put a lot of TLC into it, and getting rid of it would bring my scope count to single digits; and we can't be having that. Isn't that bad luck or something?
Well, it's currently cloudy here, with snow forecast for tonight and a current balmy temp of -5C (23F). But it is Friday. I am going to do absolutely nothing from here on in until I wake up tomorrow.
Then, I have a few PM's to get back to...
Linken Park's Waiting For The End just finished. Mine and Sarah's all time favorite tune to sing together, especially while driving.
So, on that note...Thanks for reading my drivel. All my best to you all; you're all the best
)