Best $100 you've spent on the hobby?

Came across an old post from Chuck Gulker in which he stated that the
best $100 he had spent on the hobby (after 15 years+) was on a Highpower
Equatorial Platform, which he mated with a 7" Oak Classic.

Well, if Highpower still made those EP's and at that price, I'd grab one
in a flash and pair it with my 7" Starmaster, too. And probably make
the same statement as Chuck.

That got me thinking. What's the best $100 I ever spent on this hobby?

Well, it has to be the used Astroscan I bought this summer. It's been
wonderful. Was at a country lake, and saw Barnard's E dark nebula in
Aquila for the first time (what is that, B142/143?). I also simply
marveled at crusing the summer Milky Way.

One of the best things about the little red ball wonder is the wide
field of view. I'm now into DSO hopping. The triangle, e.g., from the
Coat-Hanger cluster (CR399) to M73 (globular) to M27 Dumbbell Nebula is
so easy to navigate and seeing the DSOs in miniature is just enchanting!

That coupled with the intuitive, stable movement makes for a great
experience! Although I've own one of those short tube 80s for several
years, it never really grabbed me. The 'Scan, by contrast, has
re-energized my observing.

In any event, what's the best $100 that YOU ever spent on this hobby?

And why?

Larry Stedman
Vestal

Hmmmm

Probably a high quality glass solar filter .....previous to that I had used
cheap (and mostly crappy) mylar for many, many years....the new glass filter
was a VAST improvement....

It was under a 100, but I dont remember how much

take care

Blll

A Telrad for my Dob, made finding things easy, in Australia they sell for
around the $100 mark

Phil


"Larry Stedman" wrote in message
...
Came across an old post from Chuck Gulker in which he stated that the
best $100 he had spent on the hobby (after 15 years+) was on a Highpower
Equatorial Platform, which he mated with a 7" Oak Classic.

Well, if Highpower still made those EP's and at that price, I'd grab one
in a flash and pair it with my 7" Starmaster, too. And probably make
the same statement as Chuck.

That got me thinking. What's the best $100 I ever spent on this hobby?

Well, it has to be the used Astroscan I bought this summer. It's been
wonderful. Was at a country lake, and saw Barnard's E dark nebula in
Aquila for the first time (what is that, B142/143?). I also simply
marveled at crusing the summer Milky Way.

One of the best things about the little red ball wonder is the wide
field of view. I'm now into DSO hopping. The triangle, e.g., from the
Coat-Hanger cluster (CR399) to M73 (globular) to M27 Dumbbell Nebula is
so easy to navigate and seeing the DSOs in miniature is just enchanting!

That coupled with the intuitive, stable movement makes for a great
experience! Although I've own one of those short tube 80s for several
years, it never really grabbed me. The 'Scan, by contrast, has
re-energized my observing.

In any event, what's the best $100 that YOU ever spent on this hobby?

And why?

Larry Stedman
Vestal

"Larry Stedman" wrote in message


In any event, what's the best $100 that YOU ever spent on this hobby?

And why?

Larry Stedman
Vestal


Galileo (Barska) 15x70 Binoculars $69.99. Most used piece of equipment
I've ever owned. Great to lie on the recliner on the patio almost
every clear night. Nothing to set-up or take down. Great views of the
Milky Way and great for locating larger (brighter) M objects.

Harold



--
Posted via Mailgate.ORG Server - http://www.Mailgate.ORG

That got me thinking. What's the best $100 I ever spent on this hobby?

I'll say it's the admission fees for the star parties I've been to. 8)

Equipment-wise, I'd say

32mm TV Plossl ($70). My most-used eyepiece, I love it.
Orion DeepMap 600 - sometimes I don't want to hassle with an observing table
and a bulky atlas... this fills the bill well.

-Dave
www.daveboll.com

In any event, what's the best $100 that YOU ever spent on this hobby?

And why?

I think I have spent several "best" one hundred dollars.

The first was probably the Cometron Jr 125mm ST Newtonian I purchased at a
garage sale for $40. It refueled my excitement interest after it had lapsed
with my C-8.

The last best "$100" was the $80 I spent on a used Orion SpaceProbe 130ST OTA
fitted with a 2 inch focuser.

This is the final solution to the search begun with Cometron Jr - the ultimate,
inexpensive, small Newtonian that does it all.

The Cometron really turned me on to compact Newtonians but it was dead at 100x.
I have gone through several scopes searching for a replacement, a C-5 OTA is
the most noteable.

With the 2 inch focuser and a 130mm aperture at F5, the SpaceProbe will
provide a reasonably well corrected 3+ degree FOV at 20X with a 6.4 mm exit
pupil, ideal for scanning the Milky Way from a dark site.

At the other end, it does a nice job with double stars and planets because the
parabolic mirror plus a solid collimation cell really are quite sharp. And
that 5 inch mirror does not take long at all to cool.

Its a keeper....

jon

"Larry Stedman" wrote in message
...
Came across an old post from Chuck Gulker in which he stated that the
best $100 he had spent on the hobby (after 15 years+) was on a Highpower
Equatorial Platform, which he mated with a 7" Oak Classic.

Well, if Highpower still made those EP's and at that price, I'd grab one
in a flash and pair it with my 7" Starmaster, too. And probably make
the same statement as Chuck.

That got me thinking. What's the best $100 I ever spent on this hobby?

The best $30 I ever spent was used to pay for 3 months' support of
AstroMart.
Second would be a subscription to Sky and Telescope, but that's way over the
$100 limit after all these years.

Bob












Well, it has to be the used Astroscan I bought this summer. It's been
wonderful. Was at a country lake, and saw Barnard's E dark nebula in
Aquila for the first time (what is that, B142/143?). I also simply
marveled at crusing the summer Milky Way.

One of the best things about the little red ball wonder is the wide
field of view. I'm now into DSO hopping. The triangle, e.g., from the
Coat-Hanger cluster (CR399) to M73 (globular) to M27 Dumbbell Nebula is
so easy to navigate and seeing the DSOs in miniature is just enchanting!

That coupled with the intuitive, stable movement makes for a great
experience! Although I've own one of those short tube 80s for several
years, it never really grabbed me. The 'Scan, by contrast, has
re-energized my observing.

In any event, what's the best $100 that YOU ever spent on this hobby?

And why?

Larry Stedman
Vestal

In any event, what's the best $100 that YOU ever spent on this hobby?

And why?

Televue 20mm, 10.5mm, and 8mm plossls at NEAF for $85 total. Great
eyepieces, and real workhorses. My older son (15yrs) loves observing
multiple stars, and in a 6" f/8 dob the 10.5mm is his favorite eyepiece for
splitting them.

Dennis

Dave & Janelle wrote:

That got me thinking. What's the best $100 I ever spent on this hobby?


I'll say it's the admission fees for the star parties I've been to. 8)

Equipment-wise, I'd say

32mm TV Plossl ($70). My most-used eyepiece, I love it.

Same here.

Shawn

Telrad - $45
Rigel Collimation Cap - $5
Tirion & Skiff's Bright Star Atlas - $17
Rigel LED Skylite - $35

rat
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