Accessorise

I’ve had my telescope about three weeks now and already I feel the need to accessorise. Is this a male techno-toy thing? Yes, probably. Does it appeal to the gadget gene found in most men? Yes, almost certainly. Is it an astronomical thing? Probably not as I’m also a photographer and have felt the accessorise bug strike before. It’s like the tool bag (or box) – you always need a new screwdriver/chisel/ hammer/drill bit.

So what did I need? Well, technically, nothing. But that wasn’t good enough. I changed the question. What did I want? My list grew from ‘a red light torch’ to include a small screwdriver, spare batteries, a metal case for the kit, a lens cloth for the eyepieces, a pen and notebook, another red light torch (the one I had was a head torch), velcro to hold the battery pack and handset in place on the tripod... stop me, stop me!

Then, one lunchtime in work, I was looking at the options for more eyepieces. Aargh! I felt I needed a shorter focal length one and a wider angle one to compliment the two that came with the telescope. I settled on a 7.5mm and 32mm which, with a 2x Barlow lens, would give me a nice range of magnifications from 47x to 400x.

As I sit and write this, I’m contemplating a CCD camera, a big case to carry the OTA in, an equatorial mount for imaging, a set of filters for imaging, a solar filter, a foam insert for the accessories case, a binoviewer, a new OTA with a wider aperture…

… and a win on the lottery.