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Ohh, I thought of one many, many years ago when I started with a 60mm refractor back in college. I used to get together with another guy who was also very interested in astronomy, but we were both starting out. You know the story, wandering around Lyra looking for the ring nebula visually at about 10 power, not finding it for some reason...
Well, my friend has this 4" reflector that was kind of beat up. He yells, "I GOT IT!!!" and starts hopping around. I run over and sure enough, there is this white donut! Hmmmm..... I began moving the scope around, and... hmmm, all the other stars looked like donuts? I focused the scope, but couldn't get a pinpoint, just a larger or smaller donut, (probably the mirror cell had shifted and collimation was in the twilight zone). Anyway I said, "Jim, I don't think it's the ring nebula, everything looks like a donut?". He rushes over and takes a look... In all seriousness he says, "Maybe I've discovered a cluster of planetaries!"
Oh that's a good one...Oh my, these stories are great...keep 'em coming...
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