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[Al Degutis]

I could have put this under "What kind of Astronomer" are you thread but figured it deserved it's own. Hmmm, this could probably be a poll but I haven't looking into if this forum allows pools.

In a different thread under Observing Sessions, stargazer said:

Even though I was looking at the Stars since I was 16 and I am now 41 I regret never having a scope until now.

I got my first scope at the age of 38 (last year). The Mars opposition and the recent move to rural dark skies two months prior were the motivators. I feel like I had lost all that time before, but just figured I'd make up for it now.

Al

[starbux]

I got my first scope 35 years ago at the age of 11. A 60mm Japanese made refractor ("Space Scope" was the label) it came with a wooden box a .96" eyepiece and a terrestrial viewing lens assembly. It also had a decent finder and an eyepiece solar filter which I ignorantly used, but fortunately was spared any accident. It also had an equatorial mount with worm gears and wooden legs which I was also ignorant about an eq mount's proper use (sure looked impressive though). Good optics, though I no longer have it.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

This is an excellent thread starter.

As a very young kid of five or so, I used to use my Dad's 7x35 binoculars to scan the then darker Chicago skies of the 1960's. I didn't know what I was looking at, but I remember being facinated at the views. When I could, I would get up to the attic and scan the northern skies from the attic window, before I would get caught and sent in.

I received my first scope when I was 12. It was a 60mm white metal tube from Montgomery Wards. I would pass by the optics dept in the basement of wards, (Located on State street in Chicago), and longingly examined the telescopes and accessories.

It came with three .096 eyepieces, solar and moon filters, decent finder and metal telescoping legs with accessory tray. It also had a worm screw tracking adjuster and dew cap. Later on I bought a zoom barlow, sun projector and camera adapter for it.

As it always is the case, it was cloudy and rainy all that first week. I kept it by the window, waiting for the chance to capture something if the clouds were to break.
I really did not know how to use it. On a clear night, I focused on a star in the southern sky, but what I saw was a fuzzy dot of light. I did not know where to set the focus, as I was observing the star way out of focus and unknown to me, I was observing the diffraction rings. Quite a cool sight, and the internal turbulence of the scope and atmosphere was giving me a show. I thought that this was too cool.

After reading up on telescope mechanics, I finally realized that all should be pin points of light. Armed with updated knowledge, I was rather disappointed that what I was looking at out of focused was more interesting than objects in perfect focus.

Sometimes when I show people views thru the 4.5", they mention in their scope, they can see the disks of distant suns, with many rings. I gently inform them that their scope is not in focus, and all should be in pin point sharpness. I then show them out of focus stars and they finally realize the error. As with me when I was a kid, the proper focus disappoints the budding astronomers.

My first view of Saturn was by pure accident. I was observing at random in my backyard, and trained the 60mm on a yellowish and rather bright star in the east. In the eyepiece it was brighter than other stars I had been observing. Out of focus, I turned the knob, trying to get a pin point, but I went passed the prime focus several times before I realized that the object I was observing was not a star at all. So slowly I turned the knob until it was as sharp as I could get it, and even in the lowest powered eyepiece that I was using, I saw anomalies on this strange object. And then it hit me........Oh My God!..............The rings! I actually see the rings! I was so excited that I couldn't stand still. I was trying to take in all I could before I lost it.

I saw pictures in magazines and books about Saturns rings, but here they were...in front of me, now..in real time! I kicked up the magnification to the next level, and the rings were displayed beautifully. I again kicked it up to the highest I had, a 4.5mm, and although greatly fainter and fuzzier, it was bigger, but I had a hell of a time tracking it. It is a night I will never forget, and I still get a thrill when I first target Saturn after a long absence, but that night will always be the greatest.

I would set up the 60mm Wards scope on my back porch, scanning the northern skies throughout the night, listening to the radio, and eating sandwiches. A much more simpler time and often missed. My dad built me a mini observatory on top of the garage, with a slick trap door. One would enter from inside the garage to access the roof thru it. I set up the 60mm there and learned a great deal from the simple instrument. When I replaced the roof in 1999, I had to remove it, but it was so cool to have as a kid.

I still have my first trusty 60mm refractor, battered and dropped so many times, and it is still as faithful as the day I got it, showing me the sights that got me so excited as a kid just starting out in exploring the heavens.

[BigTenInch]

I got my first scope from a goodwill store about 17 years ago. It was a cheap piece of junk, didn't have a finderscope, and was made out of PVC tubing. The optics were a joke, but did I managed to see Saturn through it, and caught a hint of the rings. I was hooked. While the scope has long since been sent to the landfill, it did spark my interest in Astronomy, so it was well worth the $0.50 I paid for it. I bought a Meade 60mm on a cheap EQ mount after that, and have been moving right along ever since.

[stargazer]

As most of you know my firt scope is the cannon. I was 38 when I got it. It was my christmas, valentines day, mothers day and birthday gifts for a year. But I wil say well worth not getting any thing else that year.

B

[NatureDevil]

Hehehe...I am turning 25 at the end of this month, and I am getting my first scope tonight, being given to me practicly brand new from the parents of a friend of mine. It is almost 10 years old, and has never really been opened, but I will crack that puppy out ASAP.

I'll update the specs tonight or tommorrow morning when I get them. Everything I have done in astronomy is reading books and studying the physics aspect of it. Now I get to actually do some star searching.

NatureDevil

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Brians first scope!!!! I am so excited for you!!!

Gotta bring it to the lakefront...perhaps tomorrow night and catch the moon rise! I'll be there.

[starrysungazer]

Hi Skylovers!
I have to say that the night skies were extrordinary tonight for "leLuna" viewing, and thanks to the generousity and enthusiam of the astronomers that showed up at Triton I was able to once again stand in awe of our fabulous celestial night light!! What a cratered and lined face the moon has! Joe I must again compliment you on this fine website...so well done and the variety of posts will keep many of us interested (though the movies you have seen lately make me think Joe needs to view Hollywood for the "newer" movies out! Oh and Joe who too that fab pic of you!! You look very "astronomer" and the photographer has such a keen eye for you and your "educator" reliablity! See you all next month!
Sunnystargazer

[Centaur]

1957 DEC 25 when I was 12. It was a 3-inch reflector called a "Moonscope" that cost my parents $10. No scope ever gave me greater joy. With it I "discovered" Jupiter and its moons while disproving that the hovering light was a UFO. I "discovered" Saturn while trying to figure why there were two bright stars where Antares should have appeared alone. I accidentally witnessed an occultation while trying to spot a day-old Moon. Forty years later I wrote a computer program that recreated the event and finally let me know that the star was Lamda Geminorum. And of course, I came to know the Moon's face as well as my backyard.

That wonderful little instrument opened the universe, not only for me, but for my brothers, friends and neighbors. I wish I knew what became of it.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

As we get older, gain knowledge and upgrade to better telescopes...there is no comparison to our little scopes we owned as children. The first views of celestial objects, at our direction, will always be a great experience in all of our astronomer minds.

Yes, views thru a 14" Cassigrain are breathtaking, but it is the first view of Saturn in a rickety 60mm that will remain with me and moved me.

Centaur, it would be great if you still had that first scope, I know I still have mine.