den12386

5 minutes ago, den12386 said:

Took this last night in my light polluted back garden in Gateshead using my Skywatcher 130p on Alt\az goto mount. I used 2x barlow attached to my Nikon D5000 and took 20x 6 sec lights, 5 darks and 5 bias frames at iso 800. Stacked in Deep sky stacker and processed in Lightroom 4. This is my first go at any DSO with my camera attached to the scope.

I to bought a Tasco 60mm refractor in the mid/late 70`s as a lad in his teens. I carn`t recall any other brand in the shops back then. The scope and mount came in one box with the tripod legs fitted to the underside of the polystyrene box insert. The box was yellow and black and had a clear plastic window on the top so you could see the scope inside. It cost £69 back in 1978. It was well used back then and now some 35 years later I have a 70mm skywatcher refractor on a Goto mount which was my 50th birthday present from my wife last November. The quality of the scope all round is much better than the tasco one and the mount, being a Goto, is just great to use once set up and allingned. It cost £210 new, wonder how much £69 is worth in todays money???