A comedy of errors: My journey in astronomy

[JohnC]

My interest in astronomy started with the Apollo moon missions.

I had always been interested in science, indeed it was really the only thing that interested me.

As a boy i would spend all of my pocket money on astronomy books, star maps, moon maps and space models.

The night of the first moon landing sticks in my memory, my parents allowing me to bed down on the living room floor in

order to see this historic event. That was it, my fate was sealed.

The following christmas when asked what i would like the answer was simple, "A telescope".

As usual i could not sleep for days in the run up to santa's visit!

Anyway the day arrived and at the bottom of my bed lay a long colourful package. Delicatley removing the paper

(Read..frantically tearing off the wrapping) revealed a box with the words "Prinz refractor telescope"

Wow, what a beauty. Gleaming white with a wooden tripod and zoom lense.

Although only about 60mm it was my pride and joy and it got me on the road to many happy nights.

The first views were of the moon, which i found after much searching due to the totally useless finder.

I could see craters and mountains and "Flat bits". the image wobbled and diappeared from view all the time but i was

hooked.

Jupiter was to be the next target. This was sighted from the living room, sticking the scope out of the open window and

aiming between the two houses over the road. I could see this disc of yellow and purple with four tiny dots around it.

when i went back later after a cup of tea the dots had changed position! it was facinating sketching these things in my

log. My log actually being Maths exercise books from school...with the maths bits ripped out. I do not know why but my logs

were always very neatly written and laid out with sketches and diagrams. My school work on the other hand was nearly always

unreadable?

I would spend long nights on top of the local hills trying to get darker skies as these seemed to help seeing more stars.

in those days it was safe for an 11 year old to pack a flask and sanwiches and take off on these adventures.

A highlight was my first and only comet. Kahoutek (Spelling??)

I loved that telescope, i polished it during the day and escaped to new worlds during the night. And i loved my parents for

their generosity as times were hard in those days, especially with four children to look after and provide for.

As i grew older other things seemed to take over, girls, motorcycles, Deep Purple....WORK!

Suddenly in my fourties i got the bug again and decided that i must have a telescope again. Buying a copy of Sky and

Telescope i perused the ads. Crikey had things changed. There was so much choice and so many types i had never seen before.

You could even get them with computers that would allow you to see thousands and thousands of objects. The pictures were

intoxicating as was the cost involved.

Using logic and research i decided that i really needed a blue on! I had been caught in the spell of the glossy adverts by

Meade. I bought an 8" LX 90.

My god this thing was the bees knees. The views of the Moon and Jupiter were nearly as good as my old scope. This time i

could see belts on the disc and the first sight of Saturn...lets just say it was a life changing thing.

I decided that i would take lots of pictures to show my family how good this hobby was. How hard could it be?

I bought a little camera called a Meade LPI. this enabled me to take pictures of the two gas giants and of the moon.

Well it did after about 2 months of trial and error.

But galaxies and nebulae beckoned.

Roll forward 6 years. I must have bought and sold around 8 scopes, 5 cameras, 3 mounts, 2 computers, filters, books,

software etc etc.

It never seemed to go right. I would set up get evertything ready just to have the clouds roll in. I would set up get

everything ready just to have the batteries go flat. I would set up and get everything ready just to have dew spoil the

views.

This never happened to everyone else, they posted images daily that were stunning.

Astronomy was getting boring so i sold all my kit losing vast amounts of money.

Then fate struck again. On holiday in Yorkshire at a remote campsite a call of nature had me exiting the tent at 3 o'clock

in the morning. The skies were the darkest i had ever seen. the Milky way was so bright i am sure you could read by it.

I could not make out any of the constellations as there were so many stars. I had to get a telescope....again!!

This time i would not jump in head first. I would buy something simple, something cheap.

I bought a Meade 8" LX200, would i never learn.

Anyway, i enjoyed the scope but again got fed up and disallusioned at setting it all up just to have the great British

weather show its face. What to do? This time i would not give up. Instead i would try and find a way to recapture the magic

of my youth.

I took advice and looked around. What i needed was a simple visual set up, imaging was not for me, with no computers,

cables etc.

I Now have a scope for planets and lunar and a smaller scope for widefield work. These are mounted on a sturdy alt az

mount. With no goto i am now having to star hop and learn the skies all ovedr again. But above all i am now passionate

again about being out under the skies and have regained the wonder and awe that i had as a child. It has been a comedy of

errors.

So to any beginners reading this...please do not rush in blind. Do not be swayed by glossy ads, pictures and shiny scopes.

Listen to others and take heed, it will keep you interested and will save you heaps of cash.

Thanks

John

[scarp15]

Great read, reminds me of the Greek Delphinian proverbs;

'Nothing in excess'

and

'Know thyself'

[skywatcher58gb]

Hi I went through the same restarting astronomy 12 years ago, star hopping and re-learning the night sky, however I also bought a GOTO LX90, with a bit of persistance I learned how to align quickly and have done it 100's of times. I now love my LX90 and can re-aligned in minutes after say a battery has died or accidentally kicking the tripod. I still star hop with my other set ups using red dot finder but I would never give up my LX90 GOTO.

Dave

[umadog]

Me too: simple is good! Nice post.

[reddoss]

Great post. I have had a very similar journey through life, except I have stuck with DSO imaging,

[Lenny147]

Excellent story

[Monty]

Thirty+ years between my first binocular viewings, small refractor, 130p newtonian and now CPC800.

Am I going too fast?

[DazC]

On my first scope, two years in and managed to get through apoture fever unscathed and wallet intact.

Now i'm happy with what i've got and know i'm in it for the long haul.

No rush.

Great read John C, thanks for sharing.

D.C

[TractionMan]

Great story! Very nice to read indeed. Thanks for sharing.

[swamp thing]

Great story John, thanks for sharing it. I'm another fan of the simple approach (admittedly mainly through laziness ). Love using simple set ups with no electrickery.

[JohnC]

Many thanks to all for the kind comments.

Just noticed that it is not formatted to good.

I wrote it in notepad and did a cut and paste, seems to have messed up a bit.

John

[Dunkster]

Just noticed that it is not formatted to good.

I wrote it in notepad and did a cut and paste, seems to have messed up a bit.

See... look what computers do... they SPOIL everything

Great read, John, thanks for sharing

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Great read. Passion is what this is all about. Keeping things simple, getting gear that just "gets out of the way", and is an aid, not a hindrance is the key. Binoculars, and scopes that set up quickly, and are fool-proof are the way to go. It is fine to have goto, but if the battery dies, the scope should not become useless.

[KJ Dalley]

Great post John, thoroughly enjoyed reading it. Not everyone gets it right first time and its nice to hear that you are now enjoying your astronomy again.

[KevUU]

Thanks for that really interesting read.

Despite being a relative youngster I find myself having no interest in a computerised scope. I guess because I work with computers and technology I seek more and more to avoid it at home. Of course I'm writing this on my iPad, but when I go outside and look at the universe I like to do it the basic way.

Anyway thanks again for recounting your experiences

[MAN or ASTROMAN]

One of my favourite maxims is KISS (Keep it Simple,Stupid!). Wish I could stick to it though!