130 SLT

130 SLT
from Josh Moore by Josh
For my birthday, and after several years of calling it 'too expensive of a hobby' ($500 = telescope, solar filter, eye pieces, ac adapter)...I finally bought a telescope for my birthday. It's a NexStar 130 SLT. When it arrived, and the next day extra eye pieces, then the AC adapter - 2 extra long days of waiting for power - it was time to view. Obviously around lamp posts I'm normally grateful for around the house, and so many other lights around, many DSO's (deep space objects) aren't as bright, but I had fun anyway. I'm learning leaps and bounds about each eyepiece, how the GOTO works (automatically moves the scope to the selected target), and many other things. But after a few days of really cloudy weather, a nice birthday gift was a clear sky. The moon was just gorgeous tonight, as was Jupiter and the 3 visible moons (for my telescope anyway). So many more stars were visible by the naked eye, and the texture on the moon was just amazing.

I think my next purchases will be an attachment ($12) to allow your digital SLR take pictures. My telescope isn't meant for longer than 30 second exposure pictures (telescope is constantly moving to keep the object in focus), but I'm sure in the next few years, after I buy another small telescope that doesn't require power to move the gears (or have GOTO), and a small camera/attachments, I'll eventually get a bigger telescope. It's sad I just bought one and I'm talking about another, but the small one should be <>

They say going to a location of no (at least much less) light pollution, you can see many more DSO's, brighter, and more clear. I didn't want to buy an external power tank or waste batteries, but I think I'll get two sets of rechargables. Our family lives on AA batteries anyway, and it'd be fun to take the scope to the big park, or every once in a long time, to a place where there are large locations of low light pollution. No picture can describe what you see through a telescope.