A Telescope Journey

Of course I was one of those kids who thought they would be astronouts when they grew up. I couldn’t be one, but my interest in space never faded, I am always fascinated with most things related to space, it even influenced my taste in movies and games, so since when I was little, I wanted a telescope to see planets and galaxies.

I got my first “telescope” when I was 10 years old, it was one of those cheap ones, taking it out of the box I thought I would be seeing Jupiter just as it is pictured on the box! Well, that was a disappointment, it could not show anything.

That gave me a lesson about researching things well before buying them. When I grow up and got a job, buying a telescope was already on my mind. So I got to researching, which showed me that best options were dobsonians for me. I thought grea, I would buy one! But turns out there were none on sale at where I lived, only options were similar to infamous Powerseeker 127EQ. Of course I refrained from buying them, I kept checking sellers for years, more than a decade actually. In that time I tried to get one shipped from overseas, but shipping cost twice the price of the telescope. When friends went aboard, I told them to buy a Skywatcher Heritage for me, they even went to the shop to buy one, but workers there could not find the scope in the shop even thought it showed they had 2 in inventory. And even though it was a small telescope, it still had a big box, so not everyone was willing to bring one via airline.

To stratch the itch, I started trying astrophotography with my Canon 600D. Below picture is the Andromeda Galaxy, untracked 15 shots combined. I built a https://wiki.openastrotech.com/OpenAstroTracker, but did not have a chance to try it.

Then, I stumbled upon the 3d printable DIY Telescope Hadley ( https://www.printables.com/model/224383-astronomical-telescope-hadley-an-easy-assembly-hig ). Since I had a 3d printer, it was perfect for me. After sourcing the mirrors, eyepieces (6mm and 22mm Svbony) from usual suspects and getting other hardware locally, I hastily built it, building it was fun! It gave very nice views of the moon, but instead of satisfying my telescope itch, it motivated me to get a better telescope.

A year later miracle happened, and I found a 8” Dobsonian telescope at a local seller! I quickly put the order and waited for shipping. When they did not ship it I called them, they assured me nothing was wrong and it would be shipped just a couple days later. 2 days later they cancelled the order, and jacked up the price 3 times of what it was. That was a weird experience.

Then some months later I found a 8” Bresser Dobsonian at another local sellers website, and it was only just a little bit higher than prices at EU. I was skeptical but my enthusiasm got the best of me and I ordered the scope from their website. A day later they called me and said “You ordered a 8” but we also have a 10”, do you want it instead?”, I asked about the price difference and they said there wont be a difference because boss wants the 10” gone, of course I said yes! Although I could not believe it, the telescope really arrived 3 days later, seller was awesome! It was a surreal feeling, wanting something for 25 years and suddenly having it.

Since I lived in the city, first target was Moon. I was lucky to have eyepieces beforehand as the scope came with a 25mm SuperPlossl. With my 6mm eyepiece, next target was Jupiter. For target spotting the 6x30 spotter was lacking, I got a Telrad and I am still trying to get better on finding targets on sky. So of course I bought “Turn Right on Orion”.