Post a picture of your most recent purchase....(not poker chips) (4 Viewers)

My new wool “Peaky Blinders” hat just in from Ireland!

AD9F2602-6588-4380-BFB1-69436E65D89B.jpeg
 
I mentioned in my re-introduction thread that other interests had started to take up a lot of my free time, and this counts as one of those interests.

CDK-first-afternoon-smaller.jpg


I'm a "professional astronomer" only in that I get paid to operate a research telescope to collect data for other scientists but I have had a long-time interest in astronomy at the amateur level. I've had the mounting seen here for a quite a while and have used a couple other scopes on it, but this carbon-fiber beauty is my first "real" telescope for being able to take images like this:

NGC3628.jpg


(NGC 3628, AKA "The Hamburger Galaxy". Just over 9 hours exposure time to get this).

The scope has a carbon-fiber tube to support the optics within to minimize the focus change as the temperature changes throughout the night. I got it just before Christmas 2019 and was able to use it a couple times before COVID severely restricted access to my dark observing site. I'm using the down time to make some improvements to it before I can get it back out and really see what I can do with it.


The previous "recent" purchase was actually building this beast:

Dob-GCSP2019.jpeg


20-inch (0.5-m) aperture Dobsonian-style reflector dedicated to visual observing. No cameras or imaging on this one. This is old-school observing at it's purest. Here I'm at the eyepiece making an adjustment before letting someone look at Saturn at the Grand Canyon Star Party in June of 2019.

I've always enjoyed eyeball observing and doing public viewing events like the one at the Grand Canyon has always been re-energizing to me, getting to share views with the night sky that most people have never seen. I averaged something like 250-300 views per night through my scope (I say views as there had to be many repeat visitors as I changed targets throughout the evening). The photo was taken by a friend after midnight when most folks had gone back to their campsites and lodges allowing me to have some eyepiece time for myself and those still around to have a little more time at the eyepiece without a dozen people in line waiting their turn.


(BTW, yes, it was June. Yes, it's Arizona in June and yes, I'm wearing a jacket and beanie cap... it can get quite chilly at 7500 feet altitude in the middle of the night in the desert!). We mostly use red lights to help protect our night vision on the observing field but there was someone leaving and their parking lights helped illuminate the scene in this photo.
 
AlbinoDragon said:
I mentioned in my re-introduction thread that other interests had started to take up a lot of my free time, and this counts as one of those interests.

View attachment 646315

I'm a "professional astronomer" only in that I get paid to operate a research telescope to collect data for other scientists but I have had a long-time interest in astronomy at the amateur level. I've had the mounting seen here for a quite a while and have used a couple other scopes on it, but this carbon-fiber beauty is my first "real" telescope for being able to take images like this:

View attachment 646318

(NGC 3628, AKA "The Hamburger Galaxy". Just over 9 hours exposure time to get this).

The scope has a carbon-fiber tube to support the optics within to minimize the focus change as the temperature changes throughout the night. I got it just before Christmas 2019 and was able to use it a couple times before COVID severely restricted access to my dark observing site. I'm using the down time to make some improvements to it before I can get it back out and really see what I can do with it.


The previous "recent" purchase was actually building this beast:

View attachment 646319

20-inch (0.5-m) aperture Dobsonian-style reflector dedicated to visual observing. No cameras or imaging on this one. This is old-school observing at it's purest. Here I'm at the eyepiece making an adjustment before letting someone look at Saturn at the Grand Canyon Star Party in June of 2019.

I've always enjoyed eyeball observing and doing public viewing events like the one at the Grand Canyon has always been re-energizing to me, getting to share views with the night sky that most people have never seen. I averaged something like 250-300 views per night through my scope (I say views as there had to be many repeat visitors as I changed targets throughout the evening). The photo was taken by a friend after midnight when most folks had gone back to their campsites and lodges allowing me to have some eyepiece time for myself and those still around to have a little more time at the eyepiece without a dozen people in line waiting their turn.


(BTW, yes, it was June. Yes, it's Arizona in June and yes, I'm wearing a jacket and beanie cap... it can get quite chilly at 7500 feet altitude in the middle of the night in the desert!). We mostly use red lights to help protect our night vision on the observing field but there was someone leaving and their parking lights helped illuminate the scene in this photo.
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Holy smokes! This is really cool. Yeah, took an astronomy course years ago in college and have enjoyed several planetarium shows. Haha!

This is totally next level! Hope you continue to post more photos with this high tech gear. This is awesome.
 
AlbinoDragon said:
I mentioned in my re-introduction thread that other interests had started to take up a lot of my free time, and this counts as one of those interests.

View attachment 646315

I'm a "professional astronomer" only in that I get paid to operate a research telescope to collect data for other scientists but I have had a long-time interest in astronomy at the amateur level. I've had the mounting seen here for a quite a while and have used a couple other scopes on it, but this carbon-fiber beauty is my first "real" telescope for being able to take images like this:

View attachment 646318

(NGC 3628, AKA "The Hamburger Galaxy". Just over 9 hours exposure time to get this).

The scope has a carbon-fiber tube to support the optics within to minimize the focus change as the temperature changes throughout the night. I got it just before Christmas 2019 and was able to use it a couple times before COVID severely restricted access to my dark observing site. I'm using the down time to make some improvements to it before I can get it back out and really see what I can do with it.


The previous "recent" purchase was actually building this beast:

View attachment 646319

20-inch (0.5-m) aperture Dobsonian-style reflector dedicated to visual observing. No cameras or imaging on this one. This is old-school observing at it's purest. Here I'm at the eyepiece making an adjustment before letting someone look at Saturn at the Grand Canyon Star Party in June of 2019.

I've always enjoyed eyeball observing and doing public viewing events like the one at the Grand Canyon has always been re-energizing to me, getting to share views with the night sky that most people have never seen. I averaged something like 250-300 views per night through my scope (I say views as there had to be many repeat visitors as I changed targets throughout the evening). The photo was taken by a friend after midnight when most folks had gone back to their campsites and lodges allowing me to have some eyepiece time for myself and those still around to have a little more time at the eyepiece without a dozen people in line waiting their turn.


(BTW, yes, it was June. Yes, it's Arizona in June and yes, I'm wearing a jacket and beanie cap... it can get quite chilly at 7500 feet altitude in the middle of the night in the desert!). We mostly use red lights to help protect our night vision on the observing field but there was someone leaving and their parking lights helped illuminate the scene in this photo.
Click to expand...
@Schmendr1ck
 
sheikh617 said:
Got a cat back performance exhaust and a piggy back tuner from Dinan to get some more ponies out of this monster twin turbo v8. All said and done I should be in the 510 whp and 540wtq range!

View attachment 650087View attachment 650089
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Cool, looking to get a 545e
I drove A6 before but my current 5 loaner has convinced me.

A6 is still miles ahead in interior but the 5 runs circles around it driving wise
 
Thomacetti said:
Cool, looking to get a 545e
I drove A6 before but my current 5 loaner has convinced me.

A6 is still miles ahead in interior but the 5 runs circles around it driving wise
Click to expand...
BMW interiors are usually a little on the bland/outdated side but yeah driving wise BMW really has their shit together. The cars are a blast.
 
Changster said:
Nice. Does Bootmod3 not make something for your car?
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They do, as well as JB4. But Dinan is the only company that will warranty the tune. It's the most conservative tune on the market but its the safest and least known to cause any issues. I extended the factory warranty so my preference was no tune/safe tune for peace of mind.
 

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