My first light :)

[SimpleMajority]

So this first light has a story behind it.

I originally had purchased a ETX-90PE from eBay and thought the world was on fire. When it arrived I began documenting the box (something I always do in case of damage during shipping) and opened it up. I quickly found out that the controller was nothing more than a decoration as this 90 did not have a port for the controller. As I read through the book I realized what I was holding was a motor driven telescope and no matter what it would not accept a computer. So I continued to examine the telescope and opened the battery compartment to find one of the terminals was completely melted away from batteries being left in the scope. I took the telescope to a guy I know who knows almost everything there is to know about the ETX series and he discovered the shroud under the main lens was dangling and it looked like someone tried to quick fix it.

So I contacted the seller and I shipped the scope back to him the very next day for a full refund (plus shipping costs). I went to a local shop that my friend had told me about and there it was... Orion XT8 dob. I bought it, a 6mm expanse lens (I like it a lot better than the Plossl lens, it has more eye relief and it seems to have better clarity than the plossl, maybe it is just me). My friend came over and helped me assemble the scope and collimate it (it was way off). We set it up outside and used Saturn as the target star to align the finder scope. I was amazed with the detail of the planet and using the included 25mm Plossl I was able to see the shadow clearly and make out some band detail on the planet. Then I switched over to the 6mm and was completely blown out of my chair by the detail the lens gave. We hooked up his 2x barlow to the 6mm (he has had problems with it on his 12" lightbridge) and it focused just fine and the detail was a bit blurry, but amazing.

After the viewing of Saturn we focused on the moon and he showed me the differences of a 1.25" vs. a 2" lens. The details were amazing with the 2" lens and you could get a real sense of how deep the craters were. Last viewing was of Mizar and Alcor. Again the details were amazing and it was then that I realized that I made the correct purchase and this is a telescope I can fall in love with for many years to come.

I can't wait for Jupiter to come into view so I can start looking at it.

SimpleMajority

[DirkSteele]

A great first light story. Thanks for sharing it.

Clear Skies,

Matthew

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Great first light report. The Orion will show much more than the ETX 90 could ever do,

[SimpleMajority]

It is funny, I was so dead set on the ETX and when I got to the telescope shop my mind changed very fast. The guy showed us a pile of ETX telescopes and he said that they fall apart so fast. I can't wait till the next star party!

[andrew63]

Glad you got things sorted - that new telescope will give you a lifetime of things to see...

andrew

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I bought my 8" scope almost 16 years ago. Still having a lot of fun with it, and hunting down new objects.

[Double Kick Drum]

Thanks for sharing.

Enjoy your scope!

[cotterless45]

8" is ideal for transporting around and will show you most of the deep sky , planetary and lunar viewing in detail.

Nick.

[todd8137]

Hi glad you got there in the end ,it's s great scope ,and will serve you for years to come

pat