Boring Racism Comment #999999999

There was a thread on Cloudynights on a new 203mm refractor coming out from Askar.  Inevitably, some person with the username "Heywood" had to comment on Asian folks and their propensity for crappy optics.  It was pretty blatant racism and a day after the post, it was still there.  I thought about rebutting but someone already had by bringing up Takahashi, Pentax, Nikon, and Zeiss (???) as obvious counterexamples of the racist remark.  But immediately, someone questioned whether Zeiss would stoop as low as an Asian company.  It was beginning to turn into a racist cesspool of comments.  Which is not "rare" on Cloudynights.  There is a subtle (or not so subtle) anti-Asian bias on Cloudynights which is remarkably ironic since most of the posters own Asian optics.  (Not to mention the thousands of items inside their homes made in China).  For anyone who knows me, it should be clear that I'm not some defender of Chinese goods and services.  There are some outrageous and tragic human rights violations in China as well as a huge disregard for the safety and wellbeing of people who live in the shadow of a giant industrialized nation.  And of course, the situation is different in Korea, India, Japan, etc...   

From what I can tell, a lot of Chinese optics and telescopes are trying to fill a niche.  It's simple business.  To get a 203mm (8 inch) refractor from a premium telescope maker would cost at least $25k.  There is no alternative, there is no "cheap" version of that scope... until now.  (I'm not considering reflectors or other designs.)   The company AiryDisk had one for $15k at the eclipse TSP in Latham Springs, Tx.  There is a 20k version of the same scope offered by TS Telescope in Germany.   And now Askar is offering one for about $7700.   If the Askar version uses the same glass, it's probably going to sell well.   My initial thought was that it should be set up next to a 8inch SCT.  And I think it would be obvious how much "nicer" the views would be through the refractor.   

In any event, in my frustration, I contacted a moderator and wrote the following:

"This guy is making a racist generalization based on what?  Racist assumptions about a whole continent of people.  These kinds of comments allow other people to "tag" on their own racist thoughts and ideas.  Also these kinds of comments tend to get applied to Americans who have Asian ancestry.   It makes us feel like outsiders, undeserving of respect and basic civility.  I know there are a certain number of people who will try to drop little racist remarks because it amuses them to see the reactions.  Cloudy Nights is a well-respected community of astronomy lovers and I feel like racist comments of any kind shouldn't have a place here."

Solar Ha Image Test with Coronado PST

 

Shot with the PST while looking through sucker holes in the cloudy sky.  This is really a test of the QHY 678 Monochrome camera and the SolarQuest mount.  It works well.  Monochrome image stacked in Autostakkert and shaperned and colorized in Photoshop.   There's an obvious "hot spot" that I have to figure out.  This is probably one of the reasons why people go with Lunt pressure tuned solar scopes.  But overall, I like the detail and it's better that I'm using a camera instead of burning my eyes.

August 21 2017 Solar Eclipse from Idaho

Why have I taken so long to post this?   Because I was seriously disappointed by some banding that appeared in the image after I stretched it just a little bit.  But I mitigated it somewhat in Photoshop but I'm calling it pretty much done.  To invoke a cliche:  It is what it is.

Taken through the Orion 100ED and the Canon 6D.   Even with its faults, I really like the image.   I prefer the "cooler" coronal vibe instead of the bright white that is typically depicted.

March 2022 Calcium Quark Solar Image

 

I think this is the QHY462M camera on the Calcium Quark using the Orion 80ED.  It could be the 174mm camera but didn't write down the data.  4 months before the horrible floods that turned my world upside down and inside out.

October 17 2020 RGB combine Jupiter

 

One of my better RGB attempts, meaning I shot through red, green and blue filters to get this result.  Used my C11.  But most of my attempts were inferior due to poor seeing and probably questionable collimation.

Past Errors That Never Got Fixed

Attaching a photography mount on a tripod used to be always an annoying proposition because sometimes it gets stuck to the tripod.   It's usually a 3/8 inch screw head.   I always keep a Pennzoil Oil Filter Wrench in case I need a little help.  But when I attached the Sky-Watcher Solar Quest head to my tripod, it became stuck as I couldn't unloosen it from the tripod.  And the part that is attached to the tripod screw is very small, almost recessed.  When I turn the Solar Quest head, it just rotates and the part that is attached stays fixed.  It's that little round ring in the photo below that stays attached but freely rotates without any effect on the tripod screw head.  The part that is fixed to the tripod can't really be grasped by anything.  I did a little searching and read that you're supposed barely attach the accessory (tripod head, etc) to the tripod (just enough that it "almost" begins to tighten) and use the little setscrews to tighten the tripod head or whatever.   This was a revelation.  Have I been doing this wrong for the last 40+ years?  It didn't really help me as I unloosened the setscrews but it was still stuck to the tripod.  I started pulling on the head at maybe 30 degree angles whilst turning to release it and after a few minutes it unscrewed!  I then reattached it like I describe above and used the setscrews to tighten everything.  When I was done doing my solar viewing (just a test really), I unloosened the setscrews and the head easily came off.

 

 

Yay, I guess.