What equipment got you into astronomy?

[L8-Nite]

12 hours ago, Andrew_B said:

.......................................... It's an amazing feeling to look through even a small scope and see detail on another world with your own eye rather than just looking at photos from professional observatories or space probes.

 

Great statement.   That about sums it up for me. As a visual only observer, there is no other wow factor that compares.

[Dave1]

Skywatcher Explorer 150PL beginners kit. This exact kit Sky-watcher Explorer 150PL EQ3-2 | First Light Optics. That telescope gave me some of the best views of Jupiter to this day. Been a refractorholic ever since, contemplate going back to a Newtonian or trying an Maksutov again. 

[tripleped]

Tasso 4 1/2 reflector  early 1970’s

served me well 

 

[tripleped]

Sorry, misspelled Tasco

[jjohnson3803]

On 24/11/2021 at 10:42, JeremyS said:

 Christmas 1973. Tasco 60mm. As many of my generation. Very good optically on decent altaz mount too.

Same but Christmas in the mid-60s. 

Edited December 14, 2021 by jjohnson3803

[Guest]

On 24/11/2021 at 07:12, Dave scutt said:

My first telescope at the age of 49 was the 12"skywatcher dob which I got about four months ago,but I've always been interested in astronomy since I was 9 and wanting to be an astronaut, took 40 years from then to get my first scope

How much ground clearance do you have there.  I want to get something like this, but have yet to see one that has more then a couple inches of ground clearance.  

[Dave scutt]

44 minutes ago, Mike Q said:

How much ground clearance do you have there.  I want to get something like this, but have yet to see one that has more then a couple inches of ground clearance.  

It has 4 inches ground clearance. 

If I didn't have the trolley there's no way I would be able to move it around on my own, makes life so much easier just wheeling it out of the shed

[Guest]

Thank you very much.  I have a cart that I use to get it out to my observation platform.  This would eliminate the need to break my setup down and reassemble it.

[Space Hopper]

On 25/11/2021 at 07:54, Franklin said:

Dixons special.

Had a built in barlow and went from x15-x60 I think.  circa1978.

 

+1

I had exactly the same scope at around the same time or possibly 1980 which was a Christmas present when i was 12 or 13.

I was actually more into binoculars then and went through several pairs, all of indifferent quality.

I wouldn't say the 'Astral'  got me into astronomy though : i was far more interested in cars and girls 😀

It wasn't until i was approaching 30 though that the astronomy bug bit and i purchased my first decent reflector and started collecting Vixen eyepieces.

Then everything changed when i purchased my first pair of Canon image stabilised binocs and got into bino-viewing.

And the last 25 years have flown by since.....

 

 

 

 

[dannybgoode]

I always wanted a telescope but never got one when I was younger.  A few years ago though I bought a second hand SW 150P newt (the 750mm one) and a second hand AZ4 mount and was blown away with what that showed me.  I still have it and will never part with it.  That said even pre-telescope ownership, seeing Jupiter + three or four tiny moons through a pair of 10/50's is a moment which will stay with me forever also.

[Ceebee58]

70 mm refrator on an eq1 mount. Now relegated to use on lodge decking at holiday home.

[L8-Nite]

On 25/11/2021 at 07:54, Franklin said:

Dixons special.

Had a built in barlow and went from x15-x60 I think.  circa1978.

 

Does this look familiar ? 

[Franklin]

9 hours ago, L8-Nite said:

Does this look familiar ?

15x-60x, I still have a memory! Yes, that IS the exact same telescope, except mine came on a wooden tripod. Terrible alt az mount but the optics were quite good as I remember. As a 10 year old kid that scope showed me sunspots, lunar craters, Saturns rings, the moons of Jupiter, the phases of Venus and a whole host of the brighter M objects such as the Pleiades, Andromeda galaxy, Orion nebula and even M13. I had that scope for about 7years until I left school and got a job, when I had some money of my own. I then found a secondhand 75mm f/15 Unitron alt az in a wooden box with a collection of eyepieces all for £125, which back then was a lot of money. The Unitron was an excellent scope and if I'd known what it was I would still have it today. A few years later, when in my twenties, I got my hands on a Vixen 102mm and let the Unitron go. I have suffered from Vixenitus ever since and am also skint!😀

[L8-Nite]

6 hours ago, Franklin said:

15x-60x, I still have a memory! Yes, that IS the exact same telescope, except mine came on a wooden tripod. Terrible alt az mount but the optics were quite good as I remember. As a 10 year old kid that scope showed me sunspots, lunar craters, Saturns rings, the moons of Jupiter, the phases of Venus and a whole host of the brighter M objects such as the Pleiades, Andromeda galaxy, Orion nebula and even M13. I had that scope for about 7years until I left school and got a job, when I had some money of my own. I then found a secondhand 75mm f/15 Unitron alt az in a wooden box with a collection of eyepieces all for £125, which back then was a lot of money. The Unitron was an excellent scope and if I'd known what it was I would still have it today. A few years later, when in my twenties, I got my hands on a Vixen 102mm and let the Unitron go. I have suffered from Vixenitus ever since and am also skint!😀

I acquired the Astral 100 scope a few years ago from a charity shop in Abergavenny. My Niece's young daughter showed an interest in observing so I painted it her favourite colour before presenting it to her.  

[Dark Vader]

I had an old set of Japanese Mirador 7x50 binoculars in the garage covered in layers of dust. For some reason I picked them up, cleaned off the muck under the garden tap (I knew no better then 😬), dried them with a paper towel... it was dark by then so I pointed them at the moon and that, as they say, was that. Totally got away with the running water thing...

Started researching binoculars and the night sky, found this forum, researched a bit more, got some Olympus DPS1 10x50 and Celestron 15x70. Spent a year or so binocular observing then a neighbour announced his trees were coming down, opening up a lot of previously obstructed sky, making it worthwhile getting a scope. Went for the SW 200P Dobsonian as a starter scope and have not regretted it for a moment.

 

[Franklin]

8 minutes ago, L8-Nite said:

I acquired the Astral 100 scope a few years ago from a charity shop in Abergavenny. My Niece's young daughter showed an interest in observing so I painted it her favourite colour before presenting it to her.  

Nice paint job!

Back in the day they were all "Scientific Instrument" white with black trim. I see nowadays many firms painting entry level kids scopes all manner of colours to make them more appealing to the youngsters.

Having said that, if my parents had got me a pink telescope for Xmas all those years ago, I may never have continued with the hobby!😀

[Pete Presland]

Tasco 4 1/2" reflector from my mums Great Universal club book, circa 1982. Paid off weekly for a couple of years i think. I gave it to a guy at work for his granddaughter around 30 years later.

[Joacim]

Binoculars, Didn't know anything about the sky excepts Orion's belt and the big dipper (Karlavagnen in Swedish). 

I justed scanned the sky with them and found the Pleiades and my god it looked like a box of jewels. After that I started reading and learning about the sky and telescope and got a SW 8" Dob  

[883]

ETX-125 EC

[F15Rules]

Prinz 550 (Dixon's Photographic) 60mm F15 refractor with proper equatorial mount. Made in Japan by Kenko ( later Prinz 500s were much cheaper built with some plastic parts, such as the focuser wheels. They also had Circle T optics, which were quite good, but not IMHO as good as the Kenko lens set). All metal construction in a proprietary grey paint finish which I found very cool at age 15!

This scope cost £39.95 in c Christmas 1970. (That was over a week's wages for my dad at that time). My parents paid £20 deposit for my Christmas present, and I paid the remainder over 9 months from my Saturday job.

This scope was a brilliant little performer with great optics..it was limited by the then standard 0.965" eyepieces with narrow fov, but even so it showed me wonderful views of Saturn, Jupiter, the Moon, M42 and Pleiades. Mizar and it's system has always been a favourite if mine to this day, all due to the mesmerizing views of it I saw with the Prinz 550.

My dad used to come out on a winters evening while I was transfixed by Orion, and would being me hot chocolate and a hot water bottle to warm me up😊 .

Treasured memories.

The pics below are not the original scope but are an identical model in all details..

Dave

Edited January 5, 2022 by F15Rules
Additional text info

[Alan White]

I was not fortunate enough to get a telescope when young to fan the flames of interest, money would not allow this.
However my dear Dad always allowed me use of his prized Swift 8x40’s to aid my views

I learnt a lot from this experience

First telescope was a Bresser refractor just before we got married in 1995 it was my engagement present,
great present it was too. The marriage is outlasting the telescope by some years now.

I have to say I still get the same wonder each time I look up, so I think the hobby will last me out.

 

Edited January 6, 2022 by Alan White

[Ags]

On reflection, I think equipment didn't get me into astronomy. In fact I will be controversial and say that it didn't get anyone into astronomy, ever. If equipment gets you into stuff, I would also be into fishing, golf, and HiFis.

I remember my first book from my first trip to the children's library: it had a name like "How to draw Space", with step by step guides to draw lunar landers, spacewalking astronauts and so on. But I was wired from birth for science and astronomy, other kids may have borrowed the same book, but they didn't borrow it for week after week until their parents ordered them to get something else. I remember complaining with six year old logic that there weren't other books in the library identical to the one I was obsessed with! Then I discovered my father's dusty pocket book of Stars, untouched since the 1960s, and at the age of 8 or 9 I was trying to make sense of Herzsprung-Russell diagrams. It was like I had found a book of genuine magic, complete with working spells.

I only looked through a telescope years later.

[Alan White]

Ags, wow that is an alternate view and I had almost forgotten it was my true route in
And I too had a book that engaged my interest as a young child.
The Ladybird Book of The Night Sky.

[JeremyS]

5 hours ago, Alan White said:

Ags, wow that is an alternate view and I had almost forgotten it was my true route in
And I too had a book that engaged my interest as a young child.
The Ladybird Book of The Night Sky.

The cover of that book still makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Wonderful!

Similarly the cover of the original ver of Starlight Nights by Leslie C. Peltier which is an equally evocative nightscape in silhouette 

Edited January 6, 2022 by JeremyS

[F15Rules]

45 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

The cover of that book still makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Wonderful!

I never saw that book (cut my teeth on Patrick Moore's Observers Book of Astronomy), but what an evocative cover illustration!👍..

..and the more poignant as back in those days you could often see skies like that even from many towns.

Dave