Click here if you are having trouble logging into the forums
Privacy Policy |
Please read our Terms
of Service | Signup and
Troubleshooting FAQ | Problems? PM a Red or a Green Gu.... uh, User
beerman
member
Reged: 03/18/07
Posts: 97
Loc: Edmonton, Canada
|
|
I had to take a forced break from all things astro related back in May when someone stole my C6S-GT out of my garage. So, after five months of scrimping and saving for a new rig, and finally putting a deposit down on a new CGEM 8" HD two weeks ago, I get a call on Monday from the police in a small town about 40Km away.
They recovered my old scope! Needless to say, I'm amazed. I never thought I'd see it again. I rushed down to pick it up, wondering the whole time if it was still in one piece. Fortunately enough it was all there. Dirty, yes, and with a few scratches and nicks but after cleaning and testing everything checked out OK. Even the collimation was spot on!
I am one lucky guy. 
First image with the recovered scope, taken last night. Transparency was decent but the seeing was absolutely horrible and the stars are a little bloated as a result.
NGC 6946
C6S-GT at F6.3
Canon 40D at ISO 1600
11 x 5min
10 darks, no flats
Off axis guided with a DSI pro and PHD guiding.
Stacked and processed with DeepSkyStacker, PixInsight LE and Photoshop.
--------------------
Jon
C6-SGT
Homebuilt 6" F6 newtonian
Canon EOS 40D
Rubinar 500mm F8
Bushnell 200mm F3.5
SPC900NC
DSI Pro
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wildernesswanderer
Edited by beerman (10/17/09 10:19 PM)
|
David Rosenthal
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 06/23/06
Posts: 1646
Loc: NJ
|
|
You are an incredable luky guy and that is awesome that the police were able to recover your gear. This is the first time I have heard of someone getting their gear back at all, let alone getting it back in one piece!!!!
Congrats and great shot BTW !!!!
--------------------
David Rosenthal | Midland Park, NJ
My Image Gallery
http://www.EastCoastAstro.com
Atlas EQ-G EQMOD USBDIR [Self-Hypertuned]
8" SCT | AT8IN | Borg 76ED | Takahashi FS-60C
Self Modded 400D | SX MX716 | DSI Pro | SPC900NC
|
dgpilot
super member
Reged: 09/25/09
Posts: 105
Loc: San Ramon, California
|
|
Wow incredible story! I'm glad you're able to get your gear back, I bet it feels like Christmas for you 
Great shot too
--------------------
LXD75 8" SN f/4
Canon 50D, 350D (unmodded)
Orion ST80 Guidescope
Meade DSI II Pro
San Ramon, California 
My Astro Gallery
|
villaltame
member
Reged: 09/17/09
Posts: 36
Loc: Cartago, Costa Rica
|
|
Well congratulations on getting your scope back.
I guess you could say your C6 has 9 lives, well, 8 now
--------------------
Meade LX90 8" ACF
Nikon D80
My astrophoto blog
|
beerman
member
Reged: 03/18/07
Posts: 97
Loc: Edmonton, Canada
|
|
Yeah, it was a huge stroke of luck to get my scope back, I wonder what stories it could tell...
The officer involved in the recovery wouldn't tell me much other than someone had phoned in an anonymous tip about a telescope that had been stolen in my area. I didn't even have serial numbers or actual photos to give them in my original police report, I just printed out a photo of a C6 off a website and handed them that. Kudos to the officer for doing a little research through old police reports and seeing my name come up. I never thought for a moment that I would actually get my rig back, especially in one piece. Now I at least have something to use until my 8" CGEM HD arrives. 
Thanks for the comments guys!
--------------------
Jon
C6-SGT
Homebuilt 6" F6 newtonian
Canon EOS 40D
Rubinar 500mm F8
Bushnell 200mm F3.5
SPC900NC
DSI Pro
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wildernesswanderer
|
lawrie
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 01/31/06
Posts: 1744
Loc: Okanagan Valley
|
|
Quite a story, WoW, lucky you glad to see you put it to good use ....nice shot.
--------------------
Clear Skies
Lawrie
Ultima 8
Atlas EQ-G
ZenithStar 80 FD
DSI Pro - Pro II
Canon 350D
|
Nils_Lars
Post Laureate
Reged: 01/04/08
Posts: 3459
Loc: Santa Cruz Mountains , CA
|
|
Thats very cool , im glad it worked out and that is a good shot from that scope.
--------------------
Erik
Orion Atlas Self Hypertuned (EQMOD)
Orion ED 80
Williams Optics VII reducer
Celestron 8" SCT
Orion Starshoot Autoguider
PHD guide
Canon 400D Hap Griffin Mod w/Baader filter
Astronomik clip-in LP filter and 12nm Ha
Stilleto CVF and Bahtinov mask
Tamron 75-300mm&28-80mm lenses
NexImage webcam
http://www.flickr.com/photos/31986095@N05/
|
beerman
member
Reged: 03/18/07
Posts: 97
Loc: Edmonton, Canada
|
|
Edited in order to upload a slightly reprocessed and hopefully better image.
Thank you everyoe for the kind comments re: the image. When my scope got stolen I had just switched to an off-axis guider and had finally worked most the bugs out of my AP setup. I was just getting used to nice round stars when it went missing.
The OAG really helped with my imaging. Yes, it is a lot tougher to find a guide star, but the mirror in my C6 has so much slop that it was the only way to get accurate guiding.
I really need to get to a dark sky site so I can see how far I can push exposure times.
--------------------
Jon
C6-SGT
Homebuilt 6" F6 newtonian
Canon EOS 40D
Rubinar 500mm F8
Bushnell 200mm F3.5
SPC900NC
DSI Pro
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wildernesswanderer
|
bryansay
super member
Reged: 02/25/09
Posts: 111
Loc: Georgetown, TX
|
|
Congratulations Jon. You are very fortunate. Could you tell if the scope had been used at all while it was away?
Hard to believe that another astronomer would steal this, but maybe I don't know enough of you well:)
--------------------
Bryan Sayler
Celestron C9.25; Orion ED80
HEQ-5; Orion ST-80 w/starshoot
Nikon D80; Canon 40D Hap Griffin Mod
Empty Wallet 
|
beerman
member
Reged: 03/18/07
Posts: 97
Loc: Edmonton, Canada
|
|
Bryan, I doubt that the scope had been used while it was gone. I am thinking that the thieves had no clue what they had taken. They only took the scope and mount, and left all of the accessories behind. Whoever took it had no diagonal, eyepieces or power cord.
They probably saw something shiny, thought it was worth a lot of money and took off with it. There were lots of other valuable items in the garage that would have been a lot easier to sell(air compressor, tools, chainsaws) but the only other thing that went missing was a half full jerrycan of gas.
They weren't particularly kind to the scope. It looks like it was stored outside, there's some rust on several screw heads and there was some water staining on the corrector that took quite a bit of cleaning to get rid of. The paint on the OTA and mount is nicked and scratched, but everything still works and that's the important part.
The nicks and scratches are minor at best. I'll just say they give the scpe some 'character'
--------------------
Jon
C6-SGT
Homebuilt 6" F6 newtonian
Canon EOS 40D
Rubinar 500mm F8
Bushnell 200mm F3.5
SPC900NC
DSI Pro
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wildernesswanderer
|
|
8 registered and 6 anonymous users are browsing this forum.
Moderator: Charlie Hein, knuklhdastnmr
Print Thread
|
Forum Permissions
You cannot start new topics
You cannot reply to topics
HTML is disabled
UBBCode is enabled
|
Thread views: 163
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Previous
Index
Next
Threaded
Edit
Reply
Quote
[Re: 