Hi Tsula, well, one things for sure…amateur astronomers have no need of gyms or exercise machines!!! This is really useful information for anyone considering a large model telescope especially if they work alone. Often it’s the sheer size and weight of these telescopes that decides what you should buy as much as the price. The fear of dropping it, or not being able to cope with it, is always a consideration. You have shown very practically that any one of average build and fitness can manage a large telescope safely with these techniques. I’m sure this will inspire anyone considering a large telescope purchase! Thanks for the practical advice, no one does this better than you! 🤗✨🌙✨
Hi Lynn: Thanks! The first spec I always look at when considering a telescope is how much it weighs. I have to admit that the next day after making this video my back hurt. Ha ha. I think it is important for potential telescope buyers to think about the weight now and when they are older. Take care. PS: It was finally clear last night but I was afraid to go outside because of 50 MPH winds that I worried would knock my telescope over. So, I stayed inside and felt like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz and felt my house would fly away. Sigh.
@ Hi Tsula…or should I say “Dorothy”! I think you made a wise decision! I can understand the frustration only to well as I’m currently under total cloud cover AGAIN!!! Grrrrr! On the plus side at least you were spared the wicked witch if the west!!! May all your skies be dark ( and your weather cyclone free!!! ) 🤗✨🌙✨
Hi, Tsula. I bought a 9.25" Nextstar Evolution recently, and when I was done putting it together, I realized that it was way too heavy for me to move it around every time I would use it. After long hours or searching, I found the Wheeley Bars from JMI Telescopes. I bought the medium size universal wheeley bars and the fit my telescope perfectly. Now I can move around at will with little to no concerns. Thanks for your videos. P.S. - Being an amateur astronomer is proving to be a very expensive hobby!
I have a 8" and I'm at the age where I just don't want to lift it anymore. I used a lawn chair to hold the scope and then grab the base then go back and grab the scope, Yesterday the scope fell out the chair and the collumation needed redoing. Adult beverages were involve. I refocused and was golden but went in my mind there is a better way, and This video showed me there is!
@@krazyhorse448 Oh no. Well, I'm glad that you didn't crack the corrector plate if it's a SCT because that is very easy to do. It sits out at the end of the telescope very vulnerable. It sounds like everything worked out for you in the end though.
Very accurate and useful video Tsula. I have the heavy 14" Edge HD SCT. I use the table trick you show to mount the OTA. Then I use the Far Point Wheeley bar to roll the scope into the yard. I agree, use straps to help stabilize the load. The only thing I can add to your video is to take your time. I try and time my imaging session with 3-5 days of clear skies. I cover the scope with a solar shroud and leave it outside for that session before bringing it back inside.
Hi Craig; That's a good idea. I sometimes can leave a telescope outside if it looks like it will be clear for a few days and it's such a relief to know I don't have to lug something heavy back outside.
Thank you Tsula, your videos are very helpful, we as humans think with images in our brains, and when you show us the image of how to do something, it surely is super helpful vs just saying what to do, its very helpful that you show us exactly how to do something, very helpful we need to get your channel more subs! we appreciate you mam, GOD Bless you and Merry Christmas, we pray 2025 be Your Year Tsula!
Nice job. I just gave up on moving big telescopes around. The 8” Celeston is about as big as l going to manhandle especially at night. I struggle with my 11” Celestron and bear hug 60 pounds onto a mount get to be challenging so once it’s there it stays outdoors in a clamshell shelter. 8” and 4” refactor scopes are my main astronomy tools along with image stabilizer binoculars. I just downsizing. Makes live easier. I found that putting a handle on top of the mounting rings really help lifting and mounting the telescopes. Ed in Panama.
Ed: I know what you mean. It gets harder and harder for me to lift these heavy telescopes. I love the views through the 12" and thank goodness I have a smooth driveway to pull it into on the wheeley bar but if I had to lift that mama hog, I don't think I would be using it very much. Well, good for you for still getting out there with your small more manageable gear.
Good video. I'm buying some caster wheels and we have some wood left over and building a "sled" for the telescope. It's 11" SC and of course heavy sand awkward. The table trick looks really good too- so if we don't happen to have anything suitable will build one too.
Thank you for the video. We have seen you moving scopes out of your (unheated?) garage. Do you store them there throughout the winter? Eyepieces? In other words, what lives out and what lives in.
Good question. I actually put a heater in the garage about two years ago and last winter it sucked my propane tank dry! Because the ceiling of the garage wasn't insulated. So last month, by myself I might add, I insulated the roof of the garage with fiberglass insulation. And now I can run the heater sparingly. I leave everything in the garage, telescopes, mounts, and eyepieces and they have been fine. But it does occasionally get to the -20s for a few days and at those times I run the heater. I think it's OK to leave your eyepieces and telescopes in the garage but I cover all of them with heavy covers to keep the dust off. I think that is more important than the temperature because it is dusty in the garage. I keep one telescope inside the house but that is mainly so I can just put it on the deck quickly to look at something when the weather looks questionable.
there is another method and its the one i use and my biggest scope is only a c8, i carry the mount out and then have an anxiety attack when im putting the scope on the mount, nothing gets your heart rate up like thinking about watching your scope falling off cause its not attached correctly. ed ting has a video of what happens
I know the feeling well. That 10" telescope wasn't seated on the saddle and started to fall one time but it hit my leg and left a wound but at least the corrector plate didn't break. I did feel I was going to have a heart attack.
I'm a male, so this might make what I do impractical for females, but when loading my SW 150 ED refractor, I turn the dovetail slot sideways and rolle the tube onto the bottom lip of the retainer. Roll the tube against the top clamp lip, and then tighten. It saves having to do more than to stabilize the tube while tightening the screws. By having to constantly shove the tube vertically up the slot and then reaching to tighten the screws, that seems to me to be a lot more unnecessary effort.
No way! I have to keep the telescope sideways in order to close the roll off roof but the thought of trying to get the telescope onto the saddle with it sideways scares the heck out of me. For one thing I'm short and so the tube is above shoulder level and that makes it awkward for me to do it the way you described. I hate to admit it but men are just stronger than women but I do my best with the tools I have.
I've got to ask about seeing things that made you go HUH? I'll start, I was doing a alighnment to Ploaris When in my scope I saw something red I looked up in time to see something decending, Iron from space, Seen it!! and then it made a hard Left and was gone in seconds. I was jaw dropped! What the F was that! That's not the only one I couldn't figure out. It went straight down and made a hard left and was just gone, We got nothing that can do that!
After it made the turn I watched it disapper over the horizon in seconds. My second is I saw a Moon spark spatter. Did I just see something hit the moon? Awesome! No one else saw it? November 2022? Something hit. For me to even see that it had to be large!
@@krazyhorse448 The first one sounds like a fireball maybe. There aren't many red things in the sky. The second one sounds awesome. I guess it's possible to see something hit the moon. That's pretty amazing if you did.
Hi Tsula, well, one things for sure…amateur astronomers have no need of gyms or exercise machines!!! This is really useful information for anyone considering a large model telescope especially if they work alone. Often it’s the sheer size and weight of these telescopes that decides what you should buy as much as the price. The fear of dropping it, or not being able to cope with it, is always a consideration. You have shown very practically that any one of average build and fitness can manage a large telescope safely with these techniques. I’m sure this will inspire anyone considering a large telescope purchase! Thanks for the
practical advice, no one does this better than you! 🤗✨🌙✨
Hi Lynn: Thanks! The first spec I always look at when considering a telescope is how much it weighs. I have to admit that the next day after making this video my back hurt. Ha ha. I think it is important for potential telescope buyers to think about the weight now and when they are older. Take care.
PS: It was finally clear last night but I was afraid to go outside because of 50 MPH winds that I worried would knock my telescope over. So, I stayed inside and felt like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz and felt my house would fly away. Sigh.
@ Hi Tsula…or should I say “Dorothy”! I think you made a wise decision! I can understand the frustration only to well as I’m currently under total cloud cover AGAIN!!! Grrrrr! On the plus side at least you were spared the wicked witch if the west!!!
May all your skies be dark ( and your weather
cyclone free!!! ) 🤗✨🌙✨
Hi, Tsula.
I bought a 9.25" Nextstar Evolution recently, and when I was done putting it together, I realized that it was way too heavy for me to move it around every time I would use it.
After long hours or searching, I found the Wheeley Bars from JMI Telescopes. I bought the medium size universal wheeley bars and the fit my telescope perfectly. Now I can move around at will with little to no concerns. Thanks for your videos.
P.S. - Being an amateur astronomer is proving to be a very expensive hobby!
I have a 8" and I'm at the age where I just don't want to lift it anymore. I used a lawn chair to hold the scope and then grab the base then go back and grab the scope, Yesterday the scope fell out the chair and the collumation needed redoing. Adult beverages were involve. I refocused and was golden but went in my mind there is a better way, and This video showed me there is!
Thank you. I know! Especially if you get aperture fever or telescope lust.
@@krazyhorse448 Oh no. Well, I'm glad that you didn't crack the corrector plate if it's a SCT because that is very easy to do. It sits out at the end of the telescope very vulnerable. It sounds like everything worked out for you in the end though.
@@krazyhorse448 I definitely enjoyed the sentence that read "Adult beverages were involved." That was hilarious!!! 🤣
You put the "adventure" in the show title Tsula's Big Adventures!
Great tips!
Thank you! Thanks for watching.
thank you Sula for showing and not just saying - I could hear the quality of your effort
Thanks. Thank you for watching.
Very accurate and useful video Tsula. I have the heavy 14" Edge HD SCT. I use the table trick you show to mount the OTA. Then I use the Far Point Wheeley bar to roll the scope into the yard. I agree, use straps to help stabilize the load. The only thing I can add to your video is to take your time. I try and time my imaging session with 3-5 days of clear skies. I cover the scope with a solar shroud and leave it outside for that session before bringing it back inside.
Hi Craig; That's a good idea. I sometimes can leave a telescope outside if it looks like it will be clear for a few days and it's such a relief to know I don't have to lug something heavy back outside.
Thanks for sharing Tsula.
Tsula love your videos. Please get a good night of sleep.
Thank you. I have to admit that I felt tired after making that video.
Thank you Tsula, your videos are very helpful, we as humans think with images in our brains, and when you show us the image of how to do something, it surely is super helpful vs just saying what to do, its very helpful that you show us exactly how to do something, very helpful we need to get your channel more subs! we appreciate you mam, GOD Bless you and Merry Christmas, we pray 2025 be Your Year Tsula!
Thank you so much. I try. Merry Christmas to you as well and best wishes for 2025.
Thanks for sharing
Thanks for watching.
Nice job. I just gave up on moving big telescopes around. The 8” Celeston is about as big as l going to manhandle especially at night. I struggle with my 11” Celestron and bear hug 60 pounds onto a mount get to be challenging so once it’s there it stays outdoors in a clamshell shelter. 8” and 4” refactor scopes are my main astronomy tools along with image stabilizer binoculars. I just downsizing. Makes live easier. I found that putting a handle on top of the mounting rings really help lifting and mounting the telescopes. Ed in Panama.
Ed: I know what you mean. It gets harder and harder for me to lift these heavy telescopes. I love the views through the 12" and thank goodness I have a smooth driveway to pull it into on the wheeley bar but if I had to lift that mama hog, I don't think I would be using it very much. Well, good for you for still getting out there with your small more manageable gear.
Good video. I'm buying some caster wheels and we have some wood left over and building a "sled" for the telescope. It's 11" SC and of course heavy sand awkward. The table trick looks really good too- so if we don't happen to have anything suitable will build one too.
Nice. Those Schmidt-Cassegrains scare me because all the weight is at the back where the primary mirror is located.
👍
Thank you for the video. We have seen you moving scopes out of your (unheated?) garage. Do you store them there throughout the winter? Eyepieces? In other words, what lives out and what lives in.
Good question. I actually put a heater in the garage about two years ago and last winter it sucked my propane tank dry! Because the ceiling of the garage wasn't insulated. So last month, by myself I might add, I insulated the roof of the garage with fiberglass insulation. And now I can run the heater sparingly. I leave everything in the garage, telescopes, mounts, and eyepieces and they have been fine. But it does occasionally get to the -20s for a few days and at those times I run the heater. I think it's OK to leave your eyepieces and telescopes in the garage but I cover all of them with heavy covers to keep the dust off. I think that is more important than the temperature because it is dusty in the garage. I keep one telescope inside the house but that is mainly so I can just put it on the deck quickly to look at something when the weather looks questionable.
there is another method and its the one i use and my biggest scope is only a c8, i carry the mount out and then have an anxiety attack when im putting the scope on the mount, nothing gets your heart rate up like thinking about watching your scope falling off cause its not attached correctly. ed ting has a video of what happens
I know the feeling well. That 10" telescope wasn't seated on the saddle and started to fall one time but it hit my leg and left a wound but at least the corrector plate didn't break. I did feel I was going to have a heart attack.
I'm a male, so this might make what I do impractical for females, but when loading my SW 150 ED refractor, I turn the dovetail slot sideways and rolle the tube onto the bottom lip of the retainer. Roll the tube against the top clamp lip, and then tighten. It saves having to do more than to stabilize the tube while tightening the screws. By having to constantly shove the tube vertically up the slot and then reaching to tighten the screws, that seems to me to be a lot more unnecessary effort.
No way! I have to keep the telescope sideways in order to close the roll off roof but the thought of trying to get the telescope onto the saddle with it sideways scares the heck out of me. For one thing I'm short and so the tube is above shoulder level and that makes it awkward for me to do it the way you described. I hate to admit it but men are just stronger than women but I do my best with the tools I have.
I've got to ask about seeing things that made you go HUH? I'll start, I was doing a alighnment to Ploaris When in my scope I saw something red I looked up in time to see something decending, Iron from space, Seen it!! and then it made a hard Left and was gone in seconds. I was jaw dropped! What the F was that! That's not the only one I couldn't figure out. It went straight down and made a hard left and was just gone, We got nothing that can do that!
After it made the turn I watched it disapper over the horizon in seconds. My second is I saw a Moon spark spatter. Did I just see something hit the moon? Awesome! No one else saw it? November 2022? Something hit. For me to even see that it had to be large!
@@krazyhorse448 The first one sounds like a fireball maybe. There aren't many red things in the sky. The second one sounds awesome. I guess it's possible to see something hit the moon. That's pretty amazing if you did.