Amateur Astronomy -- About Me

Amateur Astronomy

ABOUT ME

My Background: As far back as I can remember, I have always loved the stars and outerspace. The vastness of the Universe and the strange objects in it fascinate me. As a young boy I always had a "cheapo" telescope of some sort that I would use for looking at the moon or terrestrial objects. I had no idea of what to look for or at in the night sky. The public school system did a mediocre job at best at teaching astronomy; all they ever mentioned was within our Solar System. Eventually, I discovered Jupiter with a small 60mm 20x to 60x zoom tabletop refractor. That kept me busy for years. Then one day a friend of mine read in the paper that Saturn would be visible and had an idea of where to look. Well, what and eye-opener! That lead to the rapid discovery of Mars and Venus. Things pretty much went stagnate at that point.

The Comet: I was vacationing in Phoenix, Arizona with my wife and in-laws. While going for a walk one evening, I noticed a fuzzy "cloud" in the sky that wouldn't move. I quickly decided that this had to be a comet. By the time we got back home to Pittsburgh, comet Hale-Bopp was all over the news. I was so proud of my "independent" discovery! Add one more celestial object to my small list.

The Dream: One day in 1998, I was at a camera store with my wife and there on display were several "big" telescopes. There were 2 refractors (probably 80mm), a 6" reflector with motors and the 90mm Meade ETX. Wow, was I impressed! I had never seen telescopes so big! Then the salesman gave me a Meade catalog...they had telescopes up to 16" in there! I was totally blown away at the fact that the average schmoe (like me) could actually buy a 10" "goto" telescope. I dreamed of owning a Meade 10" LX-200.

Wakeup Call: I soon discovered a website for the local amateur astronomy club, the AAAP (Amateur Astronomy Association of Pittsburgh). Within a week or so I was attending my first star party at the Wagman Observatory. What an event! I was looking at stuff I never knew existed and the members were very informative. I joined that night. Soon I had purchased the book, "Star Ware" by Philip S. Harrington (VERY highly recommended) and was on the quest for my first "real" telescope.

The First Scope: I bought a Celestron Firstscope 114 Deluxe reflector (114mm aperture, 900mm focal length, incl. 9mm & 25mm ep's), an Intes-Micro 12mm ep (eyepiece) and a Celestron Ultima 2x barlow on the Internet. Total spent...less than $360 (US). This turned out to be an excellent scope for a beginner on a budget. I used this scope for over two years until I got my current setup. When I sold it, I lost about $30 from my original purchase price.

Current Situation: I have an Intes MN-61, 150mm (<6") Maksutov-Newtonian hybrid telescope. The focal length is 900mm. It sits on a Celestron CG-5 mount with (the wobbly) aluminum legs. It also has the "cheap-ish" (~$165) Celestron dual-axis motors with 2x, 4x & 8x speeds.

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