Note the following is my rant of a newbie to telescopes. Some people may find it boring.
So there I was, brand spanking new telescope sitting on the back lawn. Tempting me with its long white hard body and the winking stars. Just a few unavoidable personal delays in getting to use it, but I finally got there.
The night sky was perfectly clear, well to my naked eye.
My first object - The moon. So as I tried to use the mounted finder scope, I suddenly find myself contorting my body in 15 different ways to see through the lens. How hard is this supposed to be... and it only got harder as the night wore on and my failing back gave way to pain.
I think I finally found a posture where I was humping the telescope, wrapping my arms around it and lying with my face on the tube to try and get a good view through through the finder..Some quick research revealed a thing called a telrad
, but I'm thinking laser pointer. Who would have thought trying to align a telescope to a point in the sky should be so uncomfortable. I smell a rat - I assume telescope shops have huge after market parts sales.
Anyway, moving onto the actual telescope, I viewed some incredible images, the moon, saturn, jupiter, twin stars and the big one - The Sombrero Galaxy - boy that was tiny, but thrilling, I've never seen it before...
It was already late when I was doing this and I noticed the images began to get a little dim and in fact getting dimmer as the minutes ticked by. I shined my trusty red torch down the barrel and there it was.. DEW! all over my nice new telescope mirror. I was aghast. More research on the net - ahh fans and heating elements are the go.. sheesh does the after market stuff ever stop?
Then there was the problem of sitting to view the eyepiece. Are yes some joy there. First of all my chair is too low so I bring out a stool, then the stool is too high so I try to find a compromise...more research on the net - oh dear.. they sell after market adjustable chairs too.. wow this is some hobby. So after a few hours of viewing and some reasonably satisfying sights, I retired to bed, content witth myself in obtaining mastery of the stars once again but a new phenomenon has entered my existence - the astronomical after market parts syndrome. I need more
Is there some sort of astronomers anonymous where people go after they have spent too much money on their hobby? I forsee an addiction..
Rod