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Friday, July 12, 2019

Reasonably Clear Night But Windy

I had the 8" f/7 reflector and the slight movement of the spider to improve centering of the beam in the center of the mirror made collimation easier. I am not seeing better images, perhaps because of the wind and turbulence, Even the Moon reached its limit with the 283x eyepiece.

I do need to put some phosphorescent paint on the screws that hold the finder to make a rough target for the finder.  Black plastic against a black sky does not work.

I also want to have the aluminum end cap welded.  Parks Optical used to be the supplier of high end fiberglass telescope tubes.  I think they went under,  Parks might have retired or died.  They supplied aluminum rings to protect the ends of the tubes which are not spectacular tough.  One has cracked; probably a casting defect aggravated by too tight a fit on the end of the tube.  I am going to hit up a precision welding shop in Horseshoe Bend, run by some pro-gun California refugees,  Even a few millimeters enlargement in diameters reduces the risk of stressing the ring again.

The Parks tubes changed over time.  When I bought mine it eighed nine pounds; within a few years they were 13 pounds.  It suffered one unfortunate accident.  My wife and daughter pulled a liitle too close and damaged the tube.  I did a creditable job ptching the damage with fiberglass, epoxy,sanding and paint.  You would never know,

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