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Astronomy and Cosmology
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Planning to buy a first telescope? - Comments
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[QUOTE="jim hardy, post: 5024573, member: 327872"] My first telescope was a cheap department store 10X to 30X 1 inch zoom handheld with a tripod mount. With it on my camera tripod i stumbled across Saturn. It only looked like a black-eyed pea , but even that was thrilling. So i took next step and ordered a Celestron "Comet Catcher." It is a small Schmitt-Newtonian , not very expensive . Using just a camera tripod i had a lot of fun with it. It did a great job on last visit of Halley's Comet before the tail fizzled out . [PLAIN]http://www.telescopebluebook.com/other/celestron.htm[/PLAIN] [Broken] [PLAIN]http://www.telescopebluebook.com/other/cometcatch.jpg[/PLAIN] [Broken] I never progressed beyond that little beginner's scope. Still use it. The Schmitt lens at end is nice because it keeps dust off the main mirror. It'd make a great finder for a serious telescope. Dad's 70th birthday was coming up. Retirement getting tedious, he was tiring of making birdhouses for the neighbors.. He'd wanted a telescope since he was a kid so i ordered him an 8 inch Meade mirror and mounts. We built a redwood tube for it. It became the darling of local astronomy club. Advice given above regarding a hookup with local enthusiasts is most excellent. Do-It-Yourselfer's are always eager to help out. The guys at Southern Cross club showed us how to improve our mirror mounting scheme and how to make an equatorial mount from plumbing fittings. I found Petersen's Field Guide to the Stars and Planets a pretty good starter-out book. old jim [/QUOTE]
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Planning to buy a first telescope? - Comments
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