What telescope do you own?

[gdjsky01]

As someone who is lucky enough to have observed through more than one large telescope I can tell you, magnification has its place! I love galaxy clusters. And the DIMMER the better! I love challenges!

When under dark skies I let all the fan boyz around me do the same old Messier merry-go-round. Year after year... ho humm...

I head for the charts of Alvin Huey's faintfuzzies.com PDFs. Once the field of view of those babies is in the center... mo mag please!!! On a good night is not unusual to head north of 500x on the UC. Now I don't have a set of Zeiss orthoscopics ($3500!) or TMB Monocentrics (likewise) like my large scope brethren, but I make do. When they are going deep, really deep, motto is: "less glass and mo' mag"! That is their battle cry. I use in the UC (the scope is crap but the optics are great!) Baader or Takahashi Orthos. I have a few of each. Lately I got me a 5mm 110mm Lunt. While there is a lot of glass in there, the generous FOV keeps objects in there longer. So do not discount mo mag! For deep sky use!

YMMV.
Clear skies!

 

[Five]

Eyepieces go from scope to scope. Always a good investment. I have a full set of 100* ES eyepieces. At the time I bought them they were 80% (or less) the price of the TV ethos and 95% the performance. That said, I still kept the 31mm and 12mm Naglers. And the TV Powermates and Barlows.

I Wish I could afford a TV Ethos or Nagler or Delite. Ive got the basic TV 11mm with a TV x2 barlow. I get some nice views of Saturns rings though.

 

[gdjsky01]

I Wish I could afford a TV Ethos or Nagler or Delite. Ive got the basic TV 11mm with a TV x2 barlow. I get some nice views of Saturns rings though.

Don't wish. Just enjoy. That 11mm if TV is a great good quality EP. And the barlow! I've got 1.8x, and 2.5x TV barlows. They are almost transparent. Just mo mag! Stop wishing you could 'afford' X/Y/Z. Be an American (or anyone else), and be grateful for what you have!

 

[Five]

Im always grateful for what I have. Hard work, time, and patience makes those wishes come true.

 

[gdjsky01]

Im always grateful for what I have. Hard work, time, and patience makes those wishes come true.

Yep. Finally we can be Americans and PROUD. I am fortunate that for whatever reason I decided in the 1980's to learn to code. No college education. No breaks. Took forever to get anyone to see me as an engineer. But when they did, I realized that intelligence and perseverance are what any solid human is about. Same with 'what you have'! Don't cheat. Work! And be happy. And BTW: everything you have for astronomy, unless the worse piece of crap, is STILL better than all of the 17th century scopes!


Be well! Clear skies! I love Biden and Harris!