Got me a new telescope - a big one

Well, it's bigger than yours, anyway.

Apparently, it's not the size of the scope that matters.
It's how you use it that counts.
I've been using mine to spy on the neighbours.
Nice.

Actualy, I used it to look at the cracks between layers of bricks on the neighbours apartment complex, approximately 500m away.
But that isn't very interesting or wild or crazy. Unless you really like bricks.

Okay, so I was doing my usual thang, touring the recycle stores, on the lookout for a cheap telescope.
Then hey presto! I came across this baby (not literally, although perhaps that may have reduced the price? - p.s. that previous sentence is one I never wish to be quoted on. Urgh.):
I decided to check it out. I took this shot after I pulled down the old, damaged box from the top shelf. As you can see, it's a Newtonian/reflecting telescope. 115mm diameter (not huge but not tiny) and 920mm focal length.
Here's a simple diagram explaining the differences between a reflecting and a refracting telescope:
I checked out the box. It seemed most things were there. Tripod stand and equitorial mount (a good mount is as important as the scope itself - well, that's just silly. You can't see crap using only the mount, but you can't see focused, crisp images without a good sturdy mount - sounds like I'm talking about horses - nay!).
It was time to check out the primary mirror, inside, at the bottom.
I could see some marks but what worried me was what appeared to be a big smudge running across the one side of the mirror. At one angle, it seemed rusty in colour?

I had a look at the specs and researched them on the internet. They seemed not bad:
I found a similar model (same model number and same specs online for around 100,000yen. Wowza!). This baby was a lot cheaper. It was old and the mirror may be damaged. There was no real way to test it until I actually used it. I decided to have faith and bought the sucker.

This presented itself with another problem.
How the fudge was I supposed to get this sucker home?
I had my huge backpack, but even that wasn't big enough (not quite, just a cm or two too small - nuts). This box was larger than a medium sized child (talking East European or easily Asian - not necessarily including North American children - who we all know, can grow to enormous sizes).

At least, if I was carrying a medium sized child in a box, I could make the child get out and walk.

I was going to have to carry this thing, plus my bike, plus my already pretty full big backpack on the train and all the way home (I was about 40 minutes train ride from home - including one transfer - and about 15 minutes cycling/carrying).

Tony the Tiger says:

I searched around the rest of the recycle store and found an interesting collapsable shopping bag with two tiny, flimsy plastic wheels on the bottom - aha!
It was 100yen - AHA!!
I was back in business.

I used this tiny little trolley bag, a whole load of plastic cord and more than a little tape and did a Macgyver!

Nice.

Thanks, dude.

With a lot of effort, I somehow got everything home, intact.

I quickly set up the scope and compared it to my super sweet awesome ninja scope (a refracting scope):
Nice.
It looks nice. Looks kinda like I know what I'm doing.
Truth is, I have little clue what I'm doing.
To prove that, today I took out the primary mirror and tried to wash it and dry it with cotton padding. Not amazing results.
Did a similar thing to the lenses on the ninja scope and forgot which way they went back in.
Doh!
Think it seems to work.

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