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Section one: Telescopes
Left image, the 4.25" on its' original mount (some rust from a few decades). Right image, reconfigured as a small dobsonian. In this latter mount I accomplished the entire telescopic portion of the Astronomical League's Lunar 100 in 2020.
EDMUND 4.25"
I purchased this telescope with a couple summers' worth of lawn mowing money (Deluxe Space Conqueror - aka "Palomar Jr.") back in 1973, using it on its' heavy cast iron equatorial mount. With it, I observed the Moon, all planets except Pluto, and a couple handfuls of Deep Space Objects (DSO's) such as the Orion Nebula, the Ring Nebula, etc. This kept me busy for a couple of years, until I got my driver's license...! In 2020 I crafted its dobsonian mount, mostly from scraps.
16" f/4.5 Meade Starfinder
(aka "the hot water heater"). I acquired this in 2002 and joined both SLAS and ASEM shortly thereafter. With this scope I accomplished the Messier program, the Caldwell program, the Herschel 400, the Globular Cluster program, and most of the Comet program and Outreach program requirements. It got a LOT of use and was shoved in and out of my car hundreds of times. After 13 years of heavy use and frequent dewy nights, I had worn out the tube, focuser, ground board, mirror cell, etc. So in 2015 I ordered its' replacement, re-using the Primary mirror, and parted-out this one.
8" Celestar
8" Celestar
I acquired this scope second-hand locally around 2004. It has since seen most of its' use in public Outreach, as well as for Solar, Lunar, and Planetary observing. This is the only telescope that I own that has a motor and automatically TRACKS with Earth's rotation. I observed most of the Astronomical League's DOUBLE STAR program items with this scope. Once polar aligned it made the cardinal directions very easy to note.
This "Truss" dobsonian comes apart: Upper Truss Assembly, Truss Poles (with cover), mirror box, and ground board. This makes it easier to carry, transport, and attains a better balance while observing. It is truly a "premium" amateur telescope. It is so well balanced that it moves easily with just two fingers in any direction - and stays put where I leave it. It does not "track" with Earth's rotation, and all objects are found manually by myself.
16" f/4.5 TEETER
16" f/4.5 TEETER
After wearing out the Meade Starfinder, I sought to replace it with a new body, but re-use the original main (primary) mirror. I placed an order for a custom build by Rob Teeter and received it a little over a year later (2015). The new configuration is a bit easier to transport, a LOT easier to collimate, and just looks and works a lot better. It includes fans to cool the primary faster, dew heater for the secondary mirror, and a super-useful filter slide for 2" optical filters. In 2023 the "formerly" Meade primary mirror was shipped to Ostahowski Optics for resurfacing and recoating.
10" Discovery f/6
10" Discovery f/6
For a few years I owned an 8" f/6 Orion DSE which was used as my "poor weather Outreach" scope. I recently acquired a 10" f/6 Discovery dob which took its' place as my primary Outreach telescope for most of our Friday Night events, in nearly any weather. The super-sharp 8" dob was then passed down to my oldest son! The 10" is quite an astro upgrade in several ways and also looks SO much cooler! It will likely be my "old age" telescope.
80mm f/5 "short tube" refractor (Celestron brand), I acquired this used just prior to the 2017 total solar eclipse. This gave a very nice field of view for the event (with solar filter) and is very portable. It serves as my wide-field mounted scope, for extra wide fields of view, such as the Veil Nebulae. The moon and the sun are framed well in it and are much easier targets! I used it once again for the 2024 Total Solar Eclipse.
Imaging Telescope - SEESTAR S50
I have very little patience (or talent) for astro-imaging. Prior to acquiring this piece of equipment, my imaging efforts were simple short exposures of the Moon, bright planets, the Sun, and a few bright comets. This little "astrograph" handles everything, making it super easy for anyone to take images of galaxies, nebulae, star clusters, etc. It came with a handy 12.6"x12.2"x6.3" protective case and tripod. The 250mm focal length (50mm aperture) provides an image not unlike what I see in my visual telescopes, but with much better detail, due to longer exposure time. Images are controlled by, stacked, and saved to your smart phone. The Seestar has definitely added a whole different aspect to my astronomy hobby. A huge bonus to me has been its ability to image dimmer comets, relieving me of the duty of sketching them! Literally ANYONE can image galaxies and nebulae with this!
Section Two: Binoculars
My first pair of binoculars were a gift from my wife for my birthday back in 1986. I was frustrated in my attempts to observe Halley's comet from our home (at the time) in urban Pittsburgh PA, and she took pity on me and bought me a nice pair of binoculars for my birthday. They were Bushnell 10x50s and they were a high-quality binocular from Bushnell back then. I took good care of them and used them a lot over the years, but they were unfortunately stolen from my car in downtown St Louis in 2019. I am glad that I did get 33 yrs to enjoy these binos.
- Nikon Action 10x50
- Celestron 15x70
- Barska 25x100
The 10x50's are all around performers, for astronomy, sports, birding, etc. I used these for most of the first 50 in the Binocular Messier list.
The 15x70s are fun, and can be hand-held while standing for short periods. I used these mounted for most of the binocular observing items in the Astro League's Lunar 100. They have also been very fun for whale watching in Alaska!
The 25x100s are a story unto their own. I acquired these used (as I did the Nikon 10x50s and the 15x70s). Unlike the others, I acquired these at a local GARAGE SALE. They were in very bad shape. A missing main hinge nut, no case nor caps, and noticeably out of collimation. There was no price tag on them. They'd obviously been used for hunting and had not been treated well. I ended up acquiring them for $15 (!). I spent most of a day cleaning them, replacing the missing nut, and collimating them (at the time I'd have gladly paid someone $50 to do that collimation for me!!). These have been extremely valuable to me for hunting known comets. They are basically a pair of 4" refractors! I also used these binos for the "upper 50+" of the Messier bino program as well as for the Astro League's Binocular Deep-Sky observing program. I did these all by viewing hand-held, while laying on a lounge chair and bracing my elbows to my chest while observing. They have also been very valuable for my comet observing efforts!
I also have a couple SMALL binos (6x30) with solar filters on them. These I keep for quick views of sunspots. I acquired them from garage sales prior to the 2017 total solar eclipse and then equipped them with solar filters, home-made from Baader solar film.
Section Three: Other Miscellaneous Equipment :
Lesser equipment worthy of mention:
2- step stepladder with handle - invaluable for public Outreach, but also a handy 'chair' for a brief sit.
2" Denkmeier Powerswitch - used only with the 8" SCT, allows for larger eyepieces and a built-in reducer and barlow. Allows the use of ONE eyepiece for Outreach for finding (f/6.3 reducer), observing (f/10), and higher power views (f/20). So a 1"(25-26mm) eyepiece can yield 63x, 80x, or 160x. The only downside is that this unit requires a LOT of focusing motion with each step up or down.
Howie Glatter Laser Collimator - a top-of-the-line collimator. Used mostly for the 16" Teeter.
Green Laser Pointer - simply a 5mw (max) with the proper I.R. cutoff filter for eye safety (a must-have for Public Outreach!)
Bino Parallelogram mount - not a lot of fun setting up or tearing down, but very useful for fine seeing (detail) with big/heavy binoculars. Not so important for viewing nebulae, star clusters, or galaxies (in my opinion) but needed for double stars and fine lunar detail. The camping lounge chair is used and enjoyed more for most DSOs.
Eyepieces - I have a "few". The best of these are the Explore Scientific 82* and 100* eyepieces which afford great wide-field views (30mm 82*, 18mm 82*, 14mm 100*, 14mm 82*, 9mm 100*). I also have some high-quality 1.25" 52* plossls and a 7mm 82* UWAN. These are mostly used for public outreach.
FILTERS !
Solar filters (Baader film) for the 80mm and 8" SCT telescopes and for several binos.
2" Lumicon O-III filter - very handy for great views of Nebulae, used often.
2" DGM NPB filter (a "UHC" type filter, O-III & Hb) - used occasionally.
2" Variable Polarizing filter (very helpful on Jupiter and the Moon).
2" Baader Contrast Booster (helpful on Jupiter and Mars)
2" Hydrogen-Beta filter - for California nebula and others, while in my filter slide.
1.25" Hydrogen-Beta filter - Kept it to view the elusive Horsehead Nebula in Orion. I like the smaller FOV to block out brighter stars.
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