Greg's Telescope Adventure!


 

 


What Got Me Interested in Astronomy

  • I would have to say it was (a co-worker named) Karla's handout with the ISS 10 day prediction of overflights. This was maybe October, or early November 2001. Seeing actual man made objects in space from my back yard was exciting.


 


Binoculars

I bought a pair of 10 x 50 binoculars from Wal Mart for bird watching. I started trying to find the darker satellites using them.

Then I started looking for planets... hey, what are those funny dots around Jupiter that seem to be in different places every day?

Here's a link to plans for a Binocular Box which is a device to make using binoculars for sky viewing much easier.

 


Jupiter and Saturn

I could see Jupiter's moons with my binoculars, but just barely. I know where Saturn is but I could not see the 'rings'. I got very familiar with their positions, but they were too small.

Thus began a quest for more magnification...

 


Joining "the club"

 I joined the local astronomy club so I could socialize and benefit from the experience of other star-gazers. That's where I got the primary mirror and focuser!

 

 


Getting Started on my 'Dob'

or ... What I did on my summer vacation

(even though it was actually winter and I wasn't on vacation).

I'm splitting this into multiple pages because of all the time it takes to load images...

Forward to Greg's Telescope Construction Page

 

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