What Telescopes were made for

It was the first thing I looked at with my scope. The journey back home on the train nursing the large brown box had been filled with caution, fear and expectation. The sky was beautifully clear, the darkness could not fall … Continue reading →

It was the first thing I looked at with my scope.
The journey back home on the train nursing the large brown box had been filled with caution, fear and expectation.
The sky was beautifully clear, the darkness could not fall fast enough.
I hadn’t learnt to align or track, but hours after I had got my new toy home, with the smell of polystyrene packaging still lingering, I was in my back garden with only one thing on my mind.
This was the reason I bought a telescope.
The list of things I wanted to see was vast, it still is.
Always will be.
But above them all was Saturn.
Saturn eclipsing the Sun. Earth can be seen through the rings. NASA/JPL
I had used binoculars to search the heavens since Halley’s Comet last swung past and had regularly imagined I could just make out that distinctive shape in my 10x50s. Occasionally when the ...