Priceless

"Turn Left at Orion" from Borders..............$25

SkyQuest XT6 IntelliScope from Orion - Clearance "second"..............$305 plus shipping

7mm Nagler T6 EP (impulse purchase on astromart - momentary lapse of financial reason)...............$250

Setting up on a crisp Colorado night (having never used a telescope!).............10 minutes

Locating Saturn ...............3 minutes

Having my 7 year old daughter say "Wow" seeing Saturn at 171x ...............PRICELESS


There are some things in life money can't buy, for everything else there's...............Astromart!!!



oh, and already wanting a bigger scope and more EPs after only one day....predictable :-(
..

Thanks to everyone for the advice and help!

You've only just begun

Astromart isn't a website, it's a lifestyle!

Welcome!
May the joy of the stars and planets touch your soul often.

Paul G.
Wisconsin

couple more first night thoughts - for you nostalgic types.....

1) I now understand the need for a moon filter - yikes

2) venus is bright - but hard to get any detail whatsoever

3) found the trapezium rather easily - very nice

4) saturn is much nicer in the nagler than the 10mm
supplied EP - but looked ok in the 10mm sirius plossl

5) jupiter visible with moons, but waiting for it to get higher.

6) since i cant really imagine seeing anything deeper than the trapezium (as an example - and maybe wrong), do I really need the orion computer intelliscope adapter? seems like $150 is better spent elsewhere.

7) light pollution is worse than i imagined, however the full moon with snow on the ground doesnt help.

8) the EP tends to fog up - especially the nagler. from body heat I guess.

9) it gets darn cold out there.

Robert,

Herb should give you a year sponsorship for that ad.
Welcome to Astromart.

Robert, I just read your great post. Well said and thanks for sharing.

Pat G.