A walk down memory lane...

[Greymouser]

So following another thread, where someone mentioned old setups from when they were a child and someone, ( mentioning no names, ) mentioned still having theirs in the loft, I thought I would dig out my old first scope!

Here it is in all it's glory, such as it is. It is a Greenkat 50mm objective, 600 mm focal length refractor. It was cheap back then but the best my parents could afford, so there you go. It was not the best, but got a lot of use, along with my Hamlyn guide. It was back in the late 70's I guess and everything was better then! Not least the lesser light pollution, even in bright Blackpool! I can, of course vividly remember my first view of Jupiter and Saturn through this. I was blown away, which I bet you have never heard before eh? Even though it was only a tiny scope, the views were decent and more than enough to get me hooked on Astronomy. I remember spending hours trying to find DSOs, without that much success, but still it was the trying which was important eh? 

Anyway, back to the story. Out it came with the intention of looking at Jupiter and Saturn again, when this happened:

Even though clearness was forecast.

Ah well, I will try again another night to see if it is still at all usable, certainly I am unable to throw this away, so even if not, I will make up a story for my wife to justify keeping such an old scope!
( It is still half decent terrestrially.  )

 

[Starlight 1]

I done the same today, wife is allway saying where is that good look man , I reply where was you looking. so looking at some old photo.

[russ]

I picked up a Tasco 66TR at an antiques auction a little while ago. Paid the massive sum of £5 for it. Identical to my first ever telescope. I can remember my first ever views of Jupiter and Saturn. As a teenager it was a fantastic moment, one of my best life moments.

Fast forward to 2019 and the views of both planets were truly awful, as to be expected. But I think one of the great things of living back in the early 1980's was the total lack of information, internet, images and everything else we have now. I had no expectations or high hopes of what to see. So to just see something that resembled, vaguely, a picture seen in a book was a truly amazing moment. Especially Saturn. I miss that non-digital age.

    

[Greymouser]

3 hours ago, russ said:

I miss that non-digital age.

As do I. Nostalgia is king maybe? Things seemed simpler certainly; though I guess part of that is I was only young in the 70's and 80's...

[Demonperformer]

On 30/07/2019 at 18:16, Greymouser said:

Nostalgia is king maybe?

It was ... but it isn't what it used to be ...