Meade ETX 90 RA or a change of pace by any other name..

For no particular reason I decided I wanted to venture back into astronomy again. I was an enthusiastic kid the last time I was serious and taking classes at the Dayton Museum of Natural History like a million years ago.

So I started lurking craigslist and came up with a scope in the right size range for a $100. No goto system, but I never had one when I was young.

The idea must have finally flowered after germinating for several years. I have little recollection of the who, but I do remember looking at Saturn through a reasonably powered scope and being awed. The idea that the sky is 3 dimensional which I know, have known conceptually for years, was driven home again. If there was a long enough stick ( and a means to lift it and compensate for the time light travels from a distant object) you could poke the planet.

As a city dweller, my night sky is orange most of the time with only the brightest sky objects standing out. What a marvel the skies must have been 400 years ago before the mixed blessings of electric light.

So, there is my new to me Meade sitting on a slightly modified motion picture tripod I had squirreled away in storage. It is a beast, but super stable and solid. I have a couple of eye pieces ordered to add to the stock 26mm plossl eye piece. I have had a couple of low turbulence nights of viewing Jupiter, watching its moons change position. Regrettably, I missed a transit of one of the moons, but look forward to the next. Eventually Saturn will come out of hiding from behind the sun, another event to look forward to.

The scope itself is a little shakey compared to the old more professional tools I used as a kid, but it does the job.