Posts Made By: Lane Goolsby

You must be in Florida!! I just purchased a 10" Starhopper last Saturday (first scope in 18 years, yeah!!!), and Tampa has been just overcast enough to be a tease. At first the clouds would dissipate just long enough to make you think "Hey, I should go grab the scope!", but they would roll right back in thicker and slower moving than before.

We didn't even get any rain out of the deal until today, just a bunch of clouds. And to top it off, this weekend is Mother's Day, so I won't get a chance for some late night viewing until the weekend after next. Almost enough to make a man cry!

Lane

My first scope was an El Cheapo 2 inch refractor when I was around 6 or 7 (a Tasco I think if you are wanting to know brand, but I really can't remember to save life). The optics were horrible, the focuser was one that you slid in and out instead of turn knobs, and I had better luck propping the scope on a tree branch than using the included mount. My parents bought it for me shortly after Halley's comet. My father took my brother and sister and I out into the Texas boonies to view it with bino's, and I was the first one to see it, and didn't want to leave. Seeing the comet with the Milky Way behind it really sparked something, so my parents got it for me for Christmas one year.

My next scope was a homemade 8" newt on a dob mount with optics from Edmund Scientific when I was around 11. The optics were great I guess, but the mount and the construction of the OTA were worthless. I hardly used it and got rid of it shortly after getting it because we moved to another state. I always regretted not keeping it and just fixing the build issues once I was old enough to work the saw myself.

I didn't have a scope for the last 15+ years, but the bug never left me. I just purchased a 10" Celestron Starhopper about a week ago and have had cloudy skies since!! : )

Lane