Posts Made By: Denise Babcock

Thanks a million, everyone who responded! I'm currently working my way through all those links, although it's going to take a lot to get me away from the idea of a reflector. I wasn't thinking very clearly last night, or I would have thought to mention that I had a small refractor (all of three inches) for about eight or nine years, although I haven't had even that little guy for a long time. Yeah, it was tough and able to survive all the crap I put it through, but I've wanted a bigger one for a very long time now. And plus, I just spent quite a while at the Grand Canyon Star Party getting hooked on the big scopes. True, I'll look at just about anything up in the sky, but I have a thing for nebulas. And as far as seeing goes, I'm pretty lucky in that department, since I live in Arizona.
So things are looking pretty good for the Deep Space Hunter. Thanks again for all the input!

~Denise

I have a 8" DSH on the way (hurry hurry hurry, little telescope!), which I initially became interested in because of the ridiculously low price. I went ahead and bought it because I heard so many good things here, and on the web in general, about those "cheap Chinese optics"--one comment that stands out in particular in my memory was "overperforming and underpriced." So I'm sure that, as soon as I get my eager little hands on the scope, you'll hear a bit more about some lower priced equipment. And something tells me it won't be me whining because I want a *real* scope!

~Denise

...and now for the rest of the story

Since the moon was hanging right there in front of me, I decided to take a peek at it. Then I discovered that it's really weird trying to get a big scope to go where I want it without the benefit of an equatorial mount. (And no, I've never had a Dob before...) But I found the moon and the first of many exclamations was heard floating off my balcony.
The 25mm eyepiece was really nice, in fact I was surprised at how clear and sharp the image was. So I switched to the 9mm and wasn't too thrilled. It was very hard to focus and had lousy eye relief. So back to the 25mm I went.
After about a half hour of ooh-ing and aah-ing, I just started moving the scope around to see what I could see, not really aiming at anything. I ran across a few doubles and surprised myself by actually *looking* at them (I'm not all that big on splitting doubles). Very cool. But then I ran across an open cluster and almost fell off my chair. I've no clue which one it was, since I was just scanning the sky at random, but I was amazed by how sharp and clear the image was. And this was under the Phoenix light dome from hell! There were some very bright stars that almost looked like they were coming out of the eyepiece at me, a couple long pretty star chains, and quite a few blue and reddish stars. Gorgeous! The view was easily as good or better than what I've seen through far more expensive scopes.
Then I decided to actually aim for something, and Saturn came to mind. I've always had a thing for Saturn, since it's a cool looking planet, but I've never seen it through a scope as more than a fuzzy blob, which was all my old scope could show me. So I aimed at what I thought was Saturn and there it was! It was tiny, but perfect. No detail, just a little round ball with a big impressive ring, but it was Saturn. I tried the other eyepiece and the little image got a little bigger, but no more detail.
Then I thought I'd haul the scope out front and try for Mars. That was when I discovered that there's no way in heck I'm carrying that sucker down the stairs at 4:30am, especially since I'd have to make several trips. So I went back to bed.
In all, I think that scope is more than a good deal. More like it borders on insanely underpriced, and no, I'm not complaining. I can't wait for the weekend, so I can haul it out of town and see what it can do under dark skies.

~Denise

I had that question once, immediately following "what's the Milky Way?" Apparently my coworker, who's an avid hiker, has been seeing that cloudy stuff all her life without realizing it's the arm of our galaxy. Now all I need to do is get her out to look through my scope... she's never even seen the moon through binoculars.

~Denise

At the Kaibab Forest, I finally took a look and paid attention to what I was seeing. I *could* actually see faint shadows cast by the starlight! And it wasn't just Mars, either.

~Denise

About that diffraction spiking.... argh!! Very annoying. I've only noticed it on really bright things, though, such as Mars. Since I cleaned out my meager bank account just to buy the scope, I couldn't afford a fancy filter, so I made a multi-aperture mask. Yeah, I know, make an effort to buy largish aperture just to mask it off... Anyway, it works. Mars is no longer shooting off diffraction spikes from hell. Also didn't like the greyish background of the sky and am experimenting with felt and velvet. I just have a bit of it now, opposite the focuser, but it's helping already, and I may wind up lining the entire tube. Fortunately, I'm perfectly happy tinkering with my cheap scope.

~Denise

There's the All-Arizona Star Party in Arizona City, October 24-25. Not exactly local, but definitely close.

~Denise

Yay! I got the dates right when I was telling people about it last night. I've already warned my boss I'll be taking time off for that, not sure how long I'll be there though.

LOL One of these days I'll get my film developed and post the picture of my poodle in his bomber jacket with the telescope. Problem is, my dog was pouting 'cause it was cold out and I was giving the scope more attention than him!

~Denise

*snicker* AstroPoodle! How cute. Wish I'd thought of that one. Unfortunately, my silly poodle acts rather jealous of my little 8" scope, and has never asked for any eyepiece time at all.
Oh, and that scope's gorgeous, too!

~Denise