Can’t find the original metal tripod legs for it, so the
When I bought this scope in 1980, I paid $125 for it. This equates to $388 to $440 in 2020 dollars, depending on the inflation calculator used. The first and most expensive telescope purchase I’ve made so far. Scopes weren’t cheap back then. Even the Celestron Omni XLT 150 Newtonian cost "only" $360 new a few years back; it was too good a deal to pass up on.
Anyways, back to the session. Used magnifications of 24x and 67x.
- 9-day Moon – A wealth of features at this phase. Highlights include Copernicus, showing complex detail on the walls and central mountains evident even at 67x; Plato in the north, with its elliptical outline and rather dark floor; the gigantic Clavius to the south, with smaller craterlets within this formation; the smaller but very distinct Tycho just to the north of Clavius. Bullialdus in the Mare Nubium and Longomontanus further south also stand out because of their location on the terminator, showing dark shadows.
- M57 (Ring Nebula) – able to detect at 24x and slightly more visible at 67x. This was the one
DSO I could always find with minimal star-hopping skills when I used this scope as a teen.
- M27 (Dumbbell Nebula) – slightly harder to detect than M57 using 24x; easier at 67x.
- M56 (globular in Hercules) – could not detect at all, either with 24x or 67x.
- 57 Aql (Aquila, mag.=5.8, 6.5; sep.=36”) – Tried but failed to find this double star after numerous star hopping attempts from Altair; always got lost.
Exhausted after looking for 57 Aql, and with the sound of loud fireworks nearby, I ended the session.
