About
Meade 90mm on Celestron CG-4 mount
So, what’s 90mm all about. Simple really. 90mm is of course the size of my telescope, a Meade Digital Series-90mm refractor with Autostar. I don’t use the Autostar feature, I think it’s a waste of time. In fact, this telescope is now mounted on my Celestron CG-4 EQ mount. Most of my observing is done with this instrument. In addition, I own a Celestron Omni XLT 150R refractor. I also use a pair of Meade 7 x 35 binoculars and Tasco 10 x 50 binoculars as well as naked eyes. There are many interesting deep sky objects (DSO’s), double stars and sky events that take place that can be observed with just your eyes and a pair of good binoculars or a small telescope. In fact, this is a good way for beginners to gain knowledge about the night sky.
So, now you know what I use to observe, I’ll tell you that I observe from my light polluted backyard. If you need more information about light pollution visit POLC or IDA, or just go outside on a clear night and look up. At my location the faintest star visible to the naked eye is magnitude 4.5. It should be magnitude 6.0. The higher the number the fainter the star. What I want to know is just this, how many deep sky objects can be seen from my suburban location with all the light pollution using binoculars and small telescopes? This is a work in progress to be sure.
I don’t intend to make this blog a teaching tool for beginners, there are many excellent websites out there where you can learn about astronomy. One of the best websites that I have found is One-Minute Astronomer. They have a wealth of information on their site as well as offer an e-Newsletter and Stargazing for beginners. Another site worth checking out on a cloudy night is Astronomy Know How, where you can get Your Free Monthly Astronomy Newsletter as well as a couple of astronomy courses.
I invite everyone whom observes the night sky with naked-eyes, binoculars and small telescopes – up to and including 6 inch, to post their observations here and share with us the joy of amature astronomy. Tell us what you see and what you used to see it. Feel free to comment on the observations of others. We just ask that you keep is clean and simple. No bashing or degrading anyone. This is for everyone, beginner to expert to enjoy.
About Me
I have been an amateur astronomer since 1970. My first experience was during one evening sitting outside with my older brother, I pointed to what I thought was a thin cloud that seemingly appeared every night. He looked at me and said, “Wait here”. A few minutes later he came out of the house with his bird watching binoculars, handed them to me and said, “Look at that cloud and tell me what you see”. For a few minutes I was speechless. Finally I said, “A lot of stars”. He then explained to me that I was looking at the Milky Way which is what our galaxy is called. I was hooked from that point on and often would take his binoculars out at night to see what else there was to see. Of course he grew tired of sharing his binoculars so, that Christmas he gave me my first telescope, a hand-held 30mm refractor. Maybe that’s not much of a telescope, but I can’t thank him enough for giving me that telescope and introducing me to astronomy. It truly has been a magnificent journey.
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