Okay, now that we’ve spread Christmas cheer to several Gnomies, allow me to reveal one of the coolest gifts I’ve ever received: a telescope. Actually, it started a few years ago, when I received my first telescope from my parents. It was a traditional-looking telescope – a simple refractor, to be exact. This tube worked well for viewing the moon (so long as you could aim and keep the shaft steady), but not much else. Calibration of this simple telescope was entirely manual, and you needed to escape the city lights to make the experience worth your while. It was a fantastic tool to whet the appetite, but I had always wanted more than that from my “backyard.” I wouldn’t go as far as to call myself an amateur astronomer, but I’ve always enjoyed learning more about space. Math and science were never my strong suits in the classroom, however. I just love to look – and to look at the heavens above, you need a really good telescope below. And do you know what the most important part of a telescope is? It’s not the lens, and it’s not the level of magnification – it’s the aperture. That’s the light-gathering ability of a telescope (the bigger, the better, and the heavier). Ponzi got us a new one this year.

On Christmas Eve, I unwrapped a large box sitting under the tree. Upon it was stamped a single name: Meade. This could only mean one thing, especially to someone who has walked in and out of “discovery” stores after eyeing all the sky candy. She was wise in her decision to pick up a Meade ETX-125PE (largely after reading the cosmically-fantastic Telescopes FAQ). Immediately, she noted that there were slightly-nicer models available at the store – including one that would automatically level itself and find North without manual intervention. Hallelujah! I need any and every bit of telescopic assistance at this stage in the game; I’m an aspiring amateur astronomer, mind you. We went to the store, and I learned more about what other telescopes were available. It wasn’t going to be cheap, but the Meade 8″ LX90-LNT telescope looked like a winner. So we upgraded units and drove home. Then I learned about the 8” LX200 GPS-SMT through Web reviews – even better, albeit slightly more expensive. Can one really put a price on education? I’m gonna do a bit more research before making a truly final decision this time – but I believe the LX200 is going to be on our deck before spring.

[tags]moon,astronomy,space,telescope,meade,discovery store,aperture,lx200,planets,astronomer,reflector,refractor,catadioptrics,schmidt-cassegrain,newtonian[/tags]