Christmas telescopes

anyone want a tasco mirror? we just cleaned out a trailer and among the
trash left behind was what was left of a tasco scope and the only thing I
could get from it was the main mirror, the rest had been used for baseball
bat I think.


--

The Lone Sidewalk Astronomer of Rosamond
Telescope Buyers FAQ
http://home.inreach.com/starlord
Astronomy Net Online Gift Shop
http://www.cafepress.com/astronomy_net
In Garden Online Gift Shop
http://www.cafepress.com/ingarden
Blast Off Online Gift Shop
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"AM" wrote in message
...



"RMOLLISE" wrote in message
oups.com...

I myself
starting with a 3 inch Tasco reflector that was

As did I....
But that small reflector showed me Jupiter one
-15F night back in 1969 I still remember the
views like they were yesterday..................
(remember the -15F cold too !!!!)


Fast foreword, my friend just bought a 4.5" newt for
$10 or so at a yard sale, brand new, and with high hopes.
He learned quickly. (used to looking through my C 8, C 11
already) Sooooooo. out of nostalgia's sake, I am
going to get it from him. Just looking at it makes me feel
like a kid again.



AM

http://sctuser.home.comcast.net/

"Rockett Crawford" wrote in message
...

"AM" wrote in message
...



"RMOLLISE" wrote in message
oups.com...

I myself
starting with a 3 inch Tasco reflector that was

As did I....
But that small reflector showed me Jupiter one
-15F night back in 1969 I still remember the
views like they were yesterday..................
(remember the -15F cold too !!!!)


Oh yeah, Jupiter was always a main attraction next to the moon. At 11, I
was into orbital motion watching the positions of the
4 moons change nightly. At 12, the moon. After that I went to sleep!

Well, it doesn't have to be that way. I was one of those kids back in the
60's. Got a Sears (I think) telescope for Christmas - man was I excited: the
box said "200 power"! Maybe my expectations were lower due to no Hubble and
no online galleries of photos etc, but I had a blast with that lame scope. I
sometimes had many people from the neighborhood lining up to see the moons
of Jupiter etc etc. Actually it was that telescope that sparked my interest
in the beginning that has lasted through to now. Maybe all is not lost.

---Nathan

"T.T." wrote in message
...
Saw some doting grandparents buying a primitive Tasco scope for the
grandchild today. They were really excited, and spent a lot of time
looking at the box. And an impressive box it was too. Courtesy of Hubble,
I imagine.
And I thought about the thousands? of kids who would get one of these
under the tree, would take a quick look at the moon and see something
nowhere near as exciting as a hundred views they had seen on TV or as
glossy photographs somewhere. Then a look at the stars. Pinpoints of light
exactly as they see without the scope, but more of them and not so bright.
Where are the nebulae? Where is the colour?
And the beginning of an antipathy towards anything to do with astronomy
that will last for years.

Nathan Hoover wrote:
Well, it doesn't have to be that way. I was one of those kids back in the
60's. Got a Sears (I think) telescope for Christmas - man was I excited: the
box said "200 power"! Maybe my expectations were lower due to no Hubble and
no online galleries of photos etc,

I think you put your finger on it. Even with my 8" SCT on a dark night
in the desert (good hardware, great conditions) I sense that
non-astronomers are disappointed by what I show them in the area of
DSOs. They've seen so many on-line and published photos, where time
exposures or stacking provide a much more dramatic image, that the
visual view seems "ho-hum". Andromeda is spectacularly unspectactular
visually .. and incredible photographically.

Of course, a good view of Saturn or Jupiter will always excite.

Phil

My first scope was a dim drawtube 30 x 25mm that needed the erector
lens removed just to get a small, sharp moon. It wouldn't even show
craters at 30x!

Then came a home-made 2 metre focal length 60mm diameter spectacle lens
scope hung over the washing-line post in the back garden. That was
awful too but I learnt some more woodwork and saw the Moon, Jupiter and
Saturn.

It's not what you've got but the burning desire to see something.

A German chain of supermarkets is selling the Bresser Skylux 70-700 on
an equatorial mount for £50 GBP for Christmas in Britain (and Europe).
They are selling out within a few minutes of the shops opening! So
there's hope yet for young (or impoverished) astronomers. It just makes
you wonder why they cost so much at the astro dealers?

Chris.B