CN FORUMS ARCHIVE Telescope Reviews: New User bought Meade ETX-90RA

Hi everyone! I just found this website yesterday and it's so cool. Astronomy has been my hobby since I was 10 years old (1974) when my parents bought me a table top department store spotting scope from Kmart for $50.00. It had a 50mm objective and a built in zoom ocular 7x-50x, I believe. I cherished that little guy. My cousin who was also my neighbor had just gotten his 60mm refractor from Sears. We both started this hobby out together and would learn the constellations almost everynight. After about a month of star gazing...we had a little contest of who can find Jupiter and Saturn first. We had never seen them with our telescopes before...at that age, I had no idea what was possible with these little scopes. Well my cousin found Jupiter first and he was literaly screaming from his backyard for me to go over. I saw Jupiter and 4 moons for the first time through his scope...I was estatic. I ran back to my house and saw it with my little scope then about 20 minutes later...I found Saturn and was in heaven!

I ran in and told my parents and they didn't believe me till they seen it for themselves. My parents were so estatic that they took my telescope in the car and drove me to my uncle's house to show him. Well about a year later, I sold greeting cards cause one of the prizes was a 3inch newtonian that I had to have. Needless to say...I got the scope and still remember that joyous day when I walked out of the post office with that big box.

I couldn't wait for Halley's comet in 96. Well 96 came and all I had at the time was a pair of bino's 7x50. I was engaged to be married at the time and really didn't care about Halley's comet cause I was in love man

. All I wanted to do was spend time with my girl...but I remember telling myself to go outside and look at it which I did with my bino's. The following year after we were married...I treated myself to a Meade 8" Schimtz Cassegrain ...YIPPIE!

It was heaven all over again. I would set it up outside when I noticed my 5 year old stepson would join me. I taught him how to find some of the major constellations and bought him a Fisher Price 40mm plastic scope from Kaybees. Believe it or not...we were able to see the rings of Saturn with that thing. Lil Bradley was estatic and reminded me of myself when I first seen it. Well years went by and we divorced in 91 and I sold the Cassegrain to pay my income taxes in 96. My new hobbie at that time was computers and the internet and most of my play money went to computers. Well here we are in the new millinieum and I'm still into computers and now... digital photography. However...with Mars being in the news lately...I went and bought a Meade ETX-90RA yesterday and just got an email that it should be arriving on Friday. I should be able to get some good views of Mars with that. Anyway...my interest in astonomy has been renewed and I will have my eyes set on one of those big obsession scopes...probably the 18". Well, so sorry for the novel and look forward to sharing experiences with you all.

Fabian

Hey just thought of something...will a focal reducer work on that little Meade I just bought? Another one...what's up with Orion telesopes...They used to sell 8" cassegrains from Meade and Celestron and now...nada...and I heard Coulter Optical file bankruptcy. Boy a lot has happened since I was gone.