Welcome to Star Gazer’s Field. I can not remember a time when I did not love astronomy. I mean love it, love it, love it. As a child, I took every opportunity I could to go to the observatory at Franklin & Marshal College, a small liberal arts collage in Lancaster, PA. There I had my first exposure to telescopes, I think one was a 16″ SCT and the other was an 11″ Clark refractor. A refractor so large that it was almost the diagonal length of the rectangular observatory. I remember the student caretaker telling me that the refractor was extremely old. I recall several parts made of brass and a large wood ball attached to a long brass rod used to focus the telescope.
For many years, my astronomy hobby went unattended until my father-in-law decided to buy a scope. He purchased a used Celestron Super C8 on a fork mount. Together, he and I explored the equipment side of astronomy as we learned how to polar align the scope and use the accessories we had. Then, to my surprise, my father-in-law gave me the scope as a Christmas present. It was, by far, the best gift I ever received.
