[LVAS] FW: Regional Gathering of Amateur Astronomers

Sun Jan 24 11:30:55 PST 2010

Hey guys, just wanted to share some pictures of our annual astronomy event from  yesterday. I also threw in a couple pictures of Zoe. The one where she is petting the deer is at Bonnie Springs...man we just about froze to death that day. 

I think that we all had a great time yesterday. Check out my new telescope. It is not what you might expect...no not a 50-inch Dobsonian, but quite the opposite.  

I have been looking for the best starter scope on the market, for my nine year old granddaughter, Zoe. I think that I found it yesterday. The Celestron Firstscope 76mm reflector.

First let me say that I have not looked through the scope, but if the optics are half as good as the cosmetics, focuser (yes, I said focuser) and overall quality of the OTA. The base and movements are silky smooth and is made of a heavy duty very slick composite, laminated material. It has three teflon bearings for rotation, and an adjustable knob to control tension on the altitude axis.    

S&T did a report on this scope some time back for the same reasons and gave it an excellent report. 

It has a metal tube with a sonotube wrapping with super high quality. It has a very nice spider that is adjustable for collimation as any newtonian. There are no adjustments for the primary. 

It has two eyepieces for a magnification of 15x and 75x. 

I will give a complete report of this little scope when the weather improves...hopefully this week. I do believe that I will just add this little scope to my collection and get Zoe another one. 

I first saw them in Las Vegas, and realized the quality, durability and the ease of use immediately.   

Keep in mind this scope sells for only $49.95, and I got mine yesterday for a grand total of $42.00 bucks from Camera Concepts of New York. CC has been coming to our astronomy event for the past 10 or more years. They normally  sell enough stuff to make it worth their while to drive here. From some of the things that are sold, my estimation is that they always sell at least $10,000 (+)  dollars worth of equipment. This includes books, mounts, high end Apo's, high end Meade and Nagler Ep's and an 8-inch SC or two. 

Back to my little scope. I have always been fascinated with what can be seen with a very small scope. I have used a 60mm refractor for many hours under the stars over the past 30 years. However, for some reason I don't think that I am going to convince Fred to get one. 

Finally a very cheap high quality beginners scope for $50 bucks. 

Enjoy and best regards...I sure miss Las Vegas, roger   

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