4 - Point of no return

By mid 2011 I had started looking for a better and bigger telescope. I didn't want a low quality scope, but I also didn't want to spend thousands of dollars on this hobby. At least not yet. I wanted to convince myself that for me this was a serious hobby first, so I set a spending limit of $500. I researched telescopes for a couple of months before finally deciding on one. By October of 2011 I had chosen to purchase a Celestron 130SLT Computerized Telescope. This is a Newtonian type telescope with a 130mm aperture & 650mm focal length. This one comes with a computerized "Go-To" tripod mount that tracks objects automatically. The best part is that I found it for $425 (tax included) at Fry's Electronics, and I just happen to have a Fry's credit card. There was no turning back now. I'm committed to this hobby now. I had just passed the point of no return.

When I took it out for "first light" I was delighted with my choice. Compared to my old Meade RB-60, this one was light years ahead in quality and technology. Setup was not very complicated and the computerized star tracking system was a technological marvel. It was love at first light. The quarter moon was crystal clear in my eyepiece. It was as if I could reach in and touch the craters through the scope.  I programmed the Go-To control to slew to Jupiter and pressed enter. The scope quickly started to rotate and align itself to the planet. I looked in the eyepiece and there it was, Jupiter with four of its moons clearly visible. The tracking system kept in view very accurately for as long as I wanted. I switched to a higher magnification eyepiece & 2x barlow and was able to distinguish Jupiter's cloud belts. The 2x barlow I was using was one that came with the old Meade. As I used it more and more I became better familiar with all the features and settings. This was a good telescope for what I needed.


One night I was trying to look at the full moon but it was way to bright to see through the eyepiece. So bright that I could not look at it for more than half a second before having to turn away. I had to  purchase my first of many accessories. A set of eyepiece filters. I found a 7 piece on Ebay for $35. I then bought a $20 yellow case to store them in along with the 2 eyepieces and old 2x barlow. I also purchased a storage trunk at Walmart for $20 to store the telescope, tripod, and accessory case in. The Go-To tripod uses 12 AA batteries, which get expensive to replace after a couple of times, so I also purchased an Celestron 115v AC adapter for the tripod at $36. I think all these accessories are essential to protect the investment I have put into this hobby.

Orion Flip-Mirror & Webcam

I later decided I should test the webcams (I had previously purchased) on this new telescope to see how well they performed. I needed a better way to be able to align and focus the telescope with the webcam attached, so I purchased an Orion Flip-Mirror for $132. When I attached the Flip-Mirror and webcam to the telescope I could not get the proper focus. I tried all 3 webcams and every possible adjustment I could think of to no avail. But when I attached the webcam to the telescope without the Flip-Mirror I had no problem focusing. I then determined that the Flip-Mirror placed the webcam sensor to far away from the focal point. The Flip-Mirror was of no use to me. I will keep it just in case I need it later. The webcam images were better with this telescope but it could only see very bright objects. The webcam sensor could not pick-up dim stars, so I gave up on the webcam approach and started doing some research on photographing dim stars.
That is when I saw the term "Astrophotography" for the first time. "That is exactly what I want to do", I said to myself. Need more research!