First Scope

[KenMiller]

With Brian's help, I got my first scope set up!

I hadn't looked through the scope yet when this picture was taken.

Now that I have looked through it, I'm generally smiling when in its vicinity.

[Spoonsize]

Good looking equipment!! That must be you....smiling on the inside anyway!!

[mikestrieber]

Wow, that's some first scope Ken! Brian did you well.
Mike

[Gary Beal]

Wow, thats a first scope, well done. Most aspire to own one of these at the end of the hobby, not at the start, you guys in the north sure do things different. Enjoy.

[budguinn]

Ken, what a nifty setup......that should give many years of enjoyment. Are you mainly visual or planning to do astroP work also?

[pizwiz]

Great setup Ken!
I just have one question : Which rich relative gave you his/her fortune? and is he/she interested in adopting a rather old child?

Anyway, Congratulations !!

Adolph

[KenMiller]

Originally Posted by budguinn

Ken, what a nifty setup......that should give many years of enjoyment. Are you mainly visual or planning to do astroP work also?

Well... maybe "many days"

I figure you can't get too much of a good thing - so I upgraded to a TOA-150.

I spend 95% of my clear sky time on astrophotography. The attached photo is an initial attempt at using a TSA-102 as a guide scope.

[KenMiller]

Originally Posted by pizwiz

Great setup Ken!
I just have one question : Which rich relative gave you his/her fortune? and is he/she interested in adopting a rather old child?

Anyway, Congratulations !!

Adolph

I figure I'm spending less by getting the "right" gear up-front At least, that's what I tell my wife.

[pizwiz]

I agree with you Ken, but with one great big Caveat !!
This, sadly is from personal experience.
We have a fellow at our Astronomy club who was always interested in Astronomy but had never owned a scope before. When a relative left him a small inheritance, he decided to spend the unexpected wealth on a real good Telescope with the idea of "getting started right".
He bought a 130mm Takahashi and a Losmandy GM-11 mount with all the bells and whistles.
That's when the trouble began, he won't even begin observing unless he follows all of the alignment procedures in the manual. By the time he is finally set up, the night is half over. ! He is afraid to bring the scope to the club's dark site because he is afraid that expensive equipment could get damaged. He just recently asked me where he could get accident insurance for his scope. The last time he asked me for advice about refining his set up and making the alignments more accurate I am afraid I lost it !! ( Now this is a fellow who has never taken a picture in his life, he just observes visually!)
I tried to tell him that he did not need all that stuff just to look at the moon for goodness sake. Just take your scope and mount and point the blessed RA axis at Polaris and look at the Moon!
I finally had enough, I grabbed him by the scruff of the neck, made him pick up my mount and scope and point it at Polaris. I thought he was going to have a stroke when I made him move the scope. He simply would not believe that you could do that and just enjoy looking at an Object. He has become so afraid that something is going to happen to his expensive scope that he has basically lost all the joy of owning it.
To me. who could never afford a scope like this, it is very frustrating to see it in the hands of someone who gets no real use out of it.
So I am usually careful about recommending scopes for folks new to the hobby.
If you avoid all of the above, you should have a blast with your new scope and I for one, will enjoy hearing all about your adventures with it.

Adolph

[ngc 1149]

Great looking scope and mount!!!!!!!!!!!!