My First Telescope

In a transgenic world there are genes from other organisms that alter us.  One warm summer night when I was a kid that transgenesis came from my dad.   He set up a small telescope in our front yard in southern Virginia and pointed it towards the moon.  He beckoned me over and I had my first look of the moon up close.  It is crazy how certain memories are still so vivid even from over 20 years ago.  I still remember the spot in our yard where the telescope was set up.  I still remember seeing the small craters on the moon for the first time.  I still remember how the moon moved across the eyepiece as I was looking at it.  How was the moon moving?  Everytime I looked back at the moon in the sky it was in the same place.

Those memories have never left me and show the power of other people's influence over us.  What if I had never had that night to look through a telescope for the first time and see the real beauty of moon.  I am glad I don't have to find out the answer to that what if question.  I did see the moon and it opened my world to space and what was beyond.

Years later it led me to want to get my own scope so I could not only see the moon again in my own backyard, but to give my kids the same opportunity my dad gave me.  If anyone has ever been in the market for a scope it is easy to get overwhelmed.  There are so many choices.  Scopes come in different sizes and types.   This is a topic we can discuss in more detail at a later date.  Ultimately, I decided I wanted something that was easy to transport.  These small scopes are often called grab-n-go scopes.   Size does mater because the bigger the scope the more time it takes to set up.  Time is a deterrent, so a small scope has the advantage of a quick set-up and easy transport.  The next questions is where do you get a quality scope.  I found there is a very big community of amateur astronomers and they are always selling and upgrading equipment.  So if you are looking for a scope I would recommend checking out www.astromart.com.  This is a great place to buy used scopes and other equipment.  There is a small fee for a membership to actually buy something, but you can browse the classifieds for free.

There are two things you can do with a telescope.  One is use it for visual observation and the other is for astrophotography in which you hook a camera up to the scope and take a picture.  I knew I wanted to potentially do both.  So a small refractor was the type of scope I settled on.  It was small, light, easy to transport and the easiest scope to learn astrophotography on.   After searching astromart for a few weeks I found a deal on a used Stellarvue SV90T telescope.  It is a great scope and has provided hours of space observation.

While I love the 90 mm scope, I would be remiss to not bring attention to the Orion ED80.  Orion makes a small refractor called the ED80 that is also great and one of the best selling small refractors available.

If you have the chance to show your kids or friends an entirely new world with a telecope I definitely recommend it.

Stellarvue SV90T refractor telescope