Ant - This may make you feel not so bad about over-tightening the tube side mount - like it was something stupid you did.

Last fall I saw a 70mm Celestron refractor on sale for $50 (25 pounds?) and bought it to see how a "cheap" scope performs compared to my first same size scope back when I was your age.

To my surprise, it worked much better and is well worth double I paid for it.

So what to do with it now?

Two days ago my neighbor living downstairs from me (age 14) brought up astronomy in a casual chat and said that he has had a "few telescopes" over the years. I said "A few?" and he said that each one broke when using them at night outside - that the legs were cheap and let the scope fall over when he bump(s) into it at night and each time each scope had damage after.

Well, I was thinking of giving him the scope I bought but after hearing about how "unlucky" he seems to be with scopes, I decided NOT to tell him about my "extra" scope that was looking for a new home.

So it sits, still waiting for a much more deserving owner.

So don't let what happened to you bother you too much...there are kids out there MUCH worse than you when it comes to being a little too rough with such delicate items. After hearing about his "bad luck" with scopes, I decided to not let him try my 10" for obvious reasons!

So don't feel too bad...there are guys out there your age that do much worse when using delicate instruments!