Telescope Reviews: What fun!

Hey All,

Well, first off I'm new to this forum, but not new to amateur astronomy. About 12 years ago I bought my first scope, a 10" Starfinder (Dob). I had a lot of fun, but it's big and not that portable. Then, we started a family, and it collected dust for several years. A month ago, I picked up a used ETX-90. Since then, I've been piecing together an Autostar and I also made an adapter so I could mount it to my photo tripod (yeah, I'm cheap...but the wife oversees my money! LOL).

Anyway, tonight was the official "First Light" of my ETX. I prepared by training the drive and getting it set up in the Home position, as I've been reading diligently on Weasner's ETX site. Prior to that, I checked it over seeing as it was used, and aside from the declination lock not working (someone must have over-tightened it prior to me) all is well.

This was my fist time using a GOTO system. One word: WOW! I think I saw more things (clusters) in a half hour than I did in several nights of viewing with the dob! I did the Easy align, and from that point on, the GOTO performed better than I had hoped! Everything came in within the field of view, with my 26mm eyepiece in place. I had to bump it a bit to center, but I must say I was impressed!

M57 came in nicely, as did M13.

M51 and 101 didn't come in, but I blame that on aperature and light pollution (I live about 20 miles from a metropolitan area. But I did see M92 for the first time, as well as a few others (the double cluster in Casseopaea, I think).

Anyway, just thought I'd share my joy and wonder! OH! And a satellite passed through while I was observing the Wild Duck cluster! Such fun!

Mike

(Now, to figure out what to sell off so I can pick up an ETX-125! I guess my Ducati piggy bank will end up lighter!)

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