It was a completely exhausting and wonderful September observing session, and we actually had five fine nights in a row, along with three others. So Sagittarius is now completed with the 12", and will be summarized here soon. October is already turning out to be one of the worst sessions, joining several other months from 2015 for that dubious distinction.
One of the more charming astronomy blogs out there was this older one, concerning a man in Singapore trying to observe 50 objects with a toy 50 mm refractor which he purchased from Toys R Us. http://small-telescopes.blogspot.ca/. I had enjoyed reading and following this blog in the past when it suddenly ceased to update. I thought that someday I might wish to do a similar project. After all, observing Messier objects with a 12" scope isn't much of a challenge, though it is fun and they are awfully bright. I began to wonder how many of them could be seen with a 2" scope. One night after observing and getting the big scope packed up and back into the vehicle, I took my 2" finderscope (8x) and had a look around. I was amazed at the detail I could see in several bright objects, and this got my brain ticking.
The upshot is that Deb and I have just purchased a 2" refractor, and we have found an initial project to carry out with it. Due to the fact that the Singapore blogger either lost interest in his project or has become incapable of observing, or is deceased (if anyone has info on him please contact me), Deb and I wish to follow in his footsteps, with a few differences. First of all, we did not want a "toy" telescope, but rather the best instrument we could find at a very inexpensive price. We succeeded beyond our wildest dreams. Secondly, we did not wish to observe from massively light-polluted skies as our blogger colleague had, but rather from our usual dark sky site at our club's observatory near Comber, Ontario, Canada (Hallam Observatory). Thirdly, we have chosen to observe 60 objects (related to the price we paid) all selected from Olcott's wonderful "Observing Handbook of the Skies," 1954 edition updated by Mayall. This was my very first astronomy book back in the day. We will use only the charts and objects from within the pages of this amazing little reference book.
Now, on to the new scope itself. After extensive on-line research (and following up on a good lead) we chose this one:
To say that I absolutely love the large box it came in would be a gross understatement. I felt like a kid again, getting his first scope!
Yup. Slow motion controls on a 50 mm refractor. And apparently you can switch eyepieces!
Apparently this scope is about the actual size of Jupiter! Look at all that detail we will be able to see!!
Seriously, though, besides the slow motion controls this box of goodies features eyepieces with two magnifications, ones that are actually usable! Well done, Vixen!! There is no 575x to be seen, nor a 3x Barlow, nor any Barlow, but two decent 1.25" Plossls, non-plastic.
What's in the box? An amazing tripod (Vixen uses the same one for their 70 mm scope) and solid alt-azimuth mount. A 600 mm F12 2" refractor, and a 5x20 finderscope. While many parts are plastic, they seem quite solid. The tripod is aluminum. The two eyepieces are Plossls (20 mm and 10 mm). The rack and pinion focus is tight and very responsive.
From box to assembly took around 7 minutes. Here is the finished, ready-to-use scope.
Usually seen at the eyepiece of a 6" Orion Star Blaster Intelliscope, Deb contemplates the daytime universe with the newest addition to our telescope domain instead. She is looking directly at the sun (just joking).
Himself, awaiting first light.
And now, on to the price. The scope retails in Canada at around $125, with free shipping. Added to the price is our miserable HST, which at 13% would raise the price to $140 Can. However, since we live in a border town with the USA, we are able to order from there, fetch it from our UPS mailbox, and cross over the border and back home with it. We found the scope on-line for $60 US at B & H in New Jersey. Free shipping. Free red flashlight bonus. No tax, as it was being shipped to Michigan. We declared the scope (and some martial arts attire) when coming back home, and were not asked to pay duty. So, the scope cost us exactly $59.95 US. We had to cross to Detroit anyway, so no real extra cost was involved. Thus we will search for 60 objects from Olcott's book, costing us $1 US apiece! Object #60 will be a bargain at $0.95!
All we needed now was a dark and cloudless sky. The next post will deal with our "first light" experience with the Space Eye. I hope you will join us.
Mapman Mike
No comments:
Post a Comment