Ealier this month I went out for 4 nights of astronomy with a group of fellow astronomers. I wasn't even sure I'd be able to do it. I do need help setting up this telescope, but so happy I can still get out there. I can still climb the 8 foot ladder to see amazing things in our wonderful universe.
I have to remind myself that living is why we are doing all of these treatments.
Just wanted to share that and encourage everyone to live life to the fullest!
Thanks! We are SO lucky to be here. I repeat that every day.
Awesome Gregg .
Thanks Gregg...
We gotta "keep on keeping on"
Enjoy!
gJohn
That's the point isn't it?
A wonderful post, Gregg. ("You look good." Ha. Ha.)
I remember not all that long ago when you had a PSA in the 400s and were in lots of pain at first diagnosis. Yet here you are, still managing to take out your magnificent telescope and tracking platform (both of which you designed and built yourself) and to experience the quiet profound feelings that come from observing a distant galaxy whose photons have taken many millions or even a billion years to impinge directly onto your eyes, and into your perceptive mind. Now THAT'S living large!!
Big Lupron Hugs, my Friend.
Charles
Thanks Charles. Eligard hugs right back to you! ADT hugs are the best (unless there is a hot flash goin on)
Charles is a great guy for all of you out there that haven't met him. Helps me a lot with great support.
Thanks for the great post! You are focusing on what you can still do, an excellent, positive attitude.
I struggle with this often, worrying abut whether I could or should do this or that. But then I just say: You know what, fuck it!
If we're not going down without a fight with the cancer, let's not do it with living our lives either. Every time I do something I didn't think was possible, it really empowers me to live on.
Let's get on with living!!!!
Agreed!
Amen!! Let’s not do it with our lives either!!!
Pluck the day !
Pluck it like a ripe, tasty fruit. Then enjoy it!
WOW Gregg!!!! You both 
look AWESOME!! You should post another pic like the beauty of the last one. It's a beautiful memory in my mind. Maybe post the last one again 
Thanks.
You da man. Keep on keepin on, my brother. You inspire me to get off my behind and be more active.
Life: Use it or lose it
Great attitude!
How is it that we are this far into the comments section and no one has complemented you on the extraordinary size of your equipment?
Love to see it. What's the best thing you saw in those four days?
Thanks, it really is quite a telescope. It has a 25" (86 pound) main mirror so you can really see a lot of faint galaxies. I looked at some really faint groups that were on the edge of what you could see with it. They were probably in the neighborhood of 400 million light years distant.
I really enjoy looking at the brighter objects in the sky too. I'd say the best thing I saw was Messier 51, the "whirlpool" galaxy. You can really see the spiral arms. Another of my favorites is Messier 92, a globular star cluster. You can search for these on Google if you are not familiar.
We had a telescope when my children were smaller so I know them by name, but of course our scope was too small to see directly. We really enjoyed the local stro omy club nights.
Great hobby! Thanks for sharing.
Thanks, glad you can still enjoy it.
WOW!!!!!
They call him Mr . Big wrench .
WOW !!
Dealing with this s#!t is easy to forget how to live.
Inspires me ...
I recommend the book:
amazon.com/Searching-Stars-...
Thanks for the recommendation. We are all working to save our lives, but we also need to make sure we are not just saving it, but living it too.
I have been doing a lot of second guessing myself lately and your post was truly inspiring. I needed that wake up call to jolt me back into "me"!
Thank you !
Glad to to be an inspiration. It's so easy to get into the ditch about all of this negative crap we have to deal with. Everyday I wake up in morning is another miracle.
Super Cool!
Thanks
Yeah, just small wins all the time is what I keep telling myself...we're still alive...lets make the best of it
That's right and there's a lot left to make the best of.
Brilliant Greg, I am exactly like you and many others, I didn't ask for this, I didn't invite it in, so I am going to keep on fighting it and not let it effect me where possible. In the last twelve months I've battened and insulated the living room, re wired, re plumbed the radiators, now I am going to plasterboard. Yes occasionally I was so knackered I could barely move. But we are all born to live, so that's what we are all going to do. Well done guys !
Good for you! No one wanted this for sure, but our job is to make the best we can out of wherever we are.
Great post is right! Thanks for sharing. By the way, awesome dob! Keep up the good fight, brother.
Thanks.
That's one LARGE dobsonian. I can't imagine how you transport it. But I'm sure the views from a dark site must have been memorable.
Thanks. It comes apart so it's quite portable. I used to carry it in my Honda Accord with a roof rack for the 8ft. observing ladder I need to use it. Back in those days, I carried a tent, sleeping bag, cooler for food and quite a bit of other things like books, eyepieces, etc. I even had enough room for a passenger.
I'd have the telescope set up and people would ask, "Hey, how did you get that up here?" I'd point at the car and they would look at the telescope, look at the car, back and forth and say "What! No way."
It does take a couple hours to set up though. Lots of work, but always worth it.
A light bucket for your bucket list, appropriate.
My brother had a 25" Dob, but he lived in the dark skies of southern New Mexico, so didn't have to transport it. Just wheeled it out of his garage.
Views were spectacular. Enjoy!
I was thinking earlier about light bucket and bucket list, but didn't think anyone would be familiar with the term.
Wish I had skies good enough for the 25" where I live, but the problem with most places like that is you have to drive a lot to get to basic everyday things. I don't mind some driving 5 or 6 times a year to get to a dark sky.
Great post!! Get busy livin’...
Great post Brother but don't only look at the stats reach for them my friend. Never give up never surrender. Leo
Thanks
Great. Get that bucket list done while you can Fight that Monster
Right on!
Well done gregg57
Proud of you bro
Take good care
Haniff
Thanks, great to have this place to share.
Living each day as we can is what it's all about. It's so good to see you're doing what you want and I hope you keep going at it.
Thanks, I'm planning to go again later this month. Just have to take it one day at a time.
That is where I am at as well. I try to be moderate in all things but I will not deny myself the pleasures that I enjoy as nobody knows my fate except God. Don't worry be HAPPY and ask yourself, " amI having fun? ". If not why not?
I'm the same way. I question myself more now about making excuses why I can't do something.
Sometimes my wife and I will be out doing something and she'll say, "I'd like to stop at such and such store, but I'm not sure. We can just skip it too." I always say, "Yes, let's do that. Let's not skip it." Let's not skip anything we really want to do. The time for excuses is over.
I have a sneaking suspicion that you've also used that monstrous telescope to view some female nudist beaches once in a while.... Now that's what I would call heaven....
BTW must be a pain in the ass having to hold that thing up all the time (and one handed).
Good Luck, Good Health and Good Humor.
j-o-h-n Wednesday 05/22/2019 11:27 AM DST
You could watch them at a mile away. I normally don't aim the telescope down (everything is upside down in a reflector anyway). I used to live out in the country overlooking a valley. When I got my first, much smaller telescope just for the heck of it, I pointed it across the valley to see what I could see. I came across a group of mailboxes that I could clearly read the numbers on. I could not even see any of the mailboxes without the telescope. I did find where they were, around 1/2 of a mile away. Pretty amazing what you can see. My big telescope's theoretical resolution is .21 arc seconds. That's about a 1/16" diameter circle at 1 mile. Of course the atmosphere limits that to something less.
Nice post! Reminds me that even though I am watching my carbs, I can still enjoy a piece of carrot cake tonight loaded with frosting. Might even have a Stella too.
Aww so happy for you and know I have a face to name of one these great guys❤️
Thanks!
Wow. Awesome post, G, and you look great. Astronomy is my go-to (pun intended) as well - every day it helps me put things in a very literal perspective. To see an image with my eye that was hundreds, thousands, or millions of Earth years in the making both humbles and comforts me. I spent a truly wonderful Christmas Eve in the freezing Colorado cold just this past year touring around all the wonderful objects in and around Ursa Major!
Your dob is amazing - I have found dob operators to be profound, purist, technical geniuses. To manage myself, I have gone to smaller (read: lighter) scopes and compensate with CCD/CMOS imagers... it definitely lacks the intimacy of eye-to-eyepiece, but I can often share in real time with those less familiar with the hobby and do not feel inspired by averted-gaze viewing!
Keep looking up! - Joe M.
PS - Where was your observing site?
Black Butte Reservoir near Orland, CA
Thanks. I can certainly see why people do imaging, especially as physical ability issues start to kick in. I have trouble standing for long periods of time, not to mention late night ladder climbing. Hours of up and down the ladder. By around 2 AM. I was feeling it in my lower back. But still, it was really worth it. Once I got some sleep I was ready to do it again. I know eventually I won't be able to do it, then I will go to something else. But in the meantime, I will be treating my eyes to ancient photons.
'Nuff said!
Keep the happy rolling buddy! It helps in ways science can't quantify .... yet!
Thanks, I love the connection to the universe I experience.
There is a lot of satisfaction that comes with going past what you think you can do. Setting up a 250 pound telescope is always more than I think I can do. And climbing the ladder until 2 AM is also more than I think I can do. I was really feeling it, but so what? I'm not trying to save my body for a "someday" that may never come.
At the same time, I don't do things that could have really serious consequences such as climing really high ladders. I wouldn't want to fall because then I might not survive to do the things I enjoy!
The way you really beat cancer is live on in spite of it. Yes, I know we will all eventually not be able to do that. But in the meantime - Go for it.
Wow. Very impressive. My first thought was that you had built a gigantic mortar and were going to deal with someone who had annoyed you. We all have those thoughts. Well, maybe it's just me. I climbed a ladder to get a cat off of roof. Neighbor said higher. And I stepped onto the clearly marked "This is not a step". Neighbor did not know that if I fell I would probably break into 6 or 7 pieces. And never be put back together again. I'm not going to compliment you on the extraordinary size of your equipment, but your toys are certainly huge. Enjoy.
Good on ya!
Good for you, Gregg! Keep living it up!
Thanks. Cancer has taught me to stop making excuses and live.
Hey guy! Just stumbled onto this telescope pic of you . I had forgotten this about you . Fantastic . How did you see the comet?
Yes, I did see the comet. I saw it naked eye, with a small 80mm spotting scope at 16X and then with my 10" reflector a week at about 28X about a week later. I couldn't see the entire comet on the last viewing because the comet was larger than my field of view.
That was pretty much the only observing I've done this year. All the events that I would bring my big telescope (picture) to were cancelled because of Covid. Still hoping to get it out this year.
I think you posted an amazing picture of it a while back. Quite a sight.
It is as cool. It’ll be a good day when our freedoms are restored again .☄️
Looking good, great to see your face. Thats quite a telescope! Can you take pictures with it?
I have a decent camera and have taken some pictures, but they didn't come out that well. The tracking I have is great for visual observing, but it has to be just about perfect for pictures. There is some software available to solve that problem and I might be giving that a try at some point.
The views through this telescope are just amazing though. I miss observing through it, but I can't set it up alone right now so my opportunities to use it are limited.
It's really big, I have a much smaller Schmidt-Cassegrain and it isn't easy to handle. I am surprised you don't need a crane. The views must be amazing! Aren't 5 planets viewable this month? I also really liked the nebulae. If you are able to get pics please post. Won't be as good as seeing your face but will be a close second
How can I be sure that cancer is not progressing
Great news, I can stop taking Lupron
What should I do next?
How long can I live with a PSA of 250
I can assist in finding articles 
