My wife & I had been armchair astronomers for years, eating up documentaries on television and newspapers etc. I am from rural SA with not a lot of money to spare, so never had a scope. Same as my wife, but she is a city girl. On a whim, she came home with a 60mm Tasco refractor that she had bought from BigW. We set it up and pointed it at this big bright star. It was Jupiter.
I remember the shock when I saw it and turned the scope around to look at the lens to see if it was a trick from the manufacturer. Even though the scope was crap, I'll never forget the off white colour of the planet and the two brown main bands, with 4 points of light next to it, the moons. Fantastic!!
