Last night I got out my 8 inch dob reflector and Campbell (8 year old son) got out his "Vingtronic" refractor.
It had been a while since I had used this scope (opting more often for the bigger truss dob)...
We mostly looked at the moon with a few quick glances at Jupiter...our front yard is not a very good place to view from with the streetlights so close.
Anyway, the Dob sits on a hand trolley...set up took 30 seconds (including collimation check) and after a very short (too short actually) cool down we were up and viewing...the combination of the scope and adjustable chair was a delight and I lost myself in looking at the moon through several eyepieces (it is hard to beat a TV plossl on the moon)...it was just fun to sit and stare...no plan, no rush just plain old fashioned "gawking"...and dreaming a bit about what it would be like to visit.
My wife actually came out for a while too and enjoyed the view...she even went in and got her digital camera and took a few photos by holding the camera up to the eyepiece (not very good quality compared to many others on the site have taken but she had fun taking them)
Campbell enjoyed going back and forth between the 2 scopes a great deal and my youngest son Thomas did too.
I had forgotten what a nice scope the 8 inch is...quick set up and nice views. I was reminded again what a good all purpose scope can be had for a reasonable investment.
We do sometimes get a little too caught up in the science and tech side of it all ...and sometimes need wives, partners, kids and neighbours to remind us of why we got into it in the first place.
I haveoften thoughtabout trading my 8" f7 into a shorter tubed f5,but always liked the views of the planets. I really must get a new secondary mirror,really puts it to shame having only half a coating.
That was really nice Scott.
I'm glad you had an enjoyable night with the whole family joining in.
I agree it's all too easy getting caught up with all the gadgets and missing out on the simple pleasure of just observing.
a simple pleasure.
