How I Look at the Sky

I've been spending a lot of time lately thinking about telescopes because I was informed that I'm allowed a very nice (aka expensive) birthday present. I've been drooling over things I can't have and agonizing over what would be the best addition to my very modest existing gear. My birthday isn't for several weeks, but I thought I would share with you what I do have.

My Orion StarMax90

My telescope is an Orion StarMax 90, which is a 90mm Maksutov-Cassegrain on a tabletop mount that came with 10 and 25mm Plossl eyepieces. I also bought at the same time a kit of 4 filters, and a 2x barlow lens.

The first thing  I have to say about this telescope is that it's tiny and adorable! Yeah, ok cuteness isn't a common feature on most telescopes, but Orion offers quite a few very small yet somewhat respectable scopes.  I'm an apartment dweller, and at the time I wasn't sure that I wanted to put up with trying to store a large tube and a clunky equatorial mount.

I have to admit, I don't entirely have the science of telescopy worked out yet.  I point it at things, think "cool!" and then try looking at it with a more zoomy eyepiece. When it comes to clusters and faint objects, I spend a lot of my observing time just trying to figure out what it is I'm looking at. So basically, I can't write the sort of detailed, technical review you might find on Cloudy Nights.

The full moon, photographed through my StarMax90
using my cell phone of all things.
Taken March 26, 2013. 

I can tell you, however, that the moon looks fantastic, Jupiter has stripes, and Saturn has rings, but I see no Cassini Division.  Most nebulae are usually pretty difficult to see, and my absolute favorite things to observe are open clusters.  I feel like last fall I spent the vast majority of my observing time looking at M7. I have yet to see a galaxy. It should be noted that I live in a heavily light polluted area, and all but the brightest stars and planets are rendered invisible to the naked eye.

I started out looking south from my balcony with my scope sitting on a tv dinner tray. This worked fine, but I got bored looking at the same constellation (Scorpio) every night, and I eventually moved to an apartment with a great view of a streetlight instead of Scorpio.  I honestly haven't used my StarMax much since moving, and have only been able to see the moon, Jupiter, and Saturn.

It's difficult to find a place to go to that is both dark and safe in the city. Being female, these things seem mutually exclusive to me. Also, the fact that I would  have to haul out a chair and a table as well makes me think that staying at home and playing Skyrim instead is a better idea. Yes, I am both lazy and paranoid.

My Bushnell Legacy
10x50 Binoculars

My other toy that I have is a pair of Bushnell Legacy 10x50 binoculars. I love them.  It has a nice field of view, a long enough eye relief that I don't have to take off my glasses, and it's fog resistant as well as waterproof. I love looking at the Pleiades with these binoculars, as well as checking out the positions of the Galilean moons.

I sometimes grab the dog and these binoculars and head out for just a quick look. Unfortunately, the dog has no appreciation for astronomy and assumes I keep looking up because there's something scary up there, so we have to go back inside fairly quickly, but that's what binoculars are great for.

The moon is usually a bit too bright through them (I use a moon filter on my scope) and I did catch the ISS with them, but couldn't resolve it's shape. It was also very bright.  These binoculars are fairly heavy, and it's uncomfortable to wear them on the strap around my neck.  I typically just keep it on in case I drop them, but don't often let them dangle there for long.  Another minor complaint is that the lens caps always fall off very easily.  I'm very surprised I haven't lost one yet.

And sadly, thats all the optical gear that I have.  So what's the next step?  Initially I wanted a reflector on a tripod with a goto mount, and while there are somewhat affordable options for these, my research gave me the feeling that telescope makers did a lot of skimping to bring the prices down on them. Instead, I'm thinking of asking for a great huge monster of a light bucket - an 8" Dobsonian. I have a couple of places in mind to bring it to, and I'm already planning on spending my evenings this fall in some dark parking lots.