First First Light

Lest anyone think that is a current star chart, let me assure, it isn't.

This is a chart generated from Night Vision for Java (a nice free planetarium

program), and if you look close enough, you'll see a date - 18th June,

1981 (1981/6/18, above the chart). It was on this night that I used my

first telescope, an older Tasco 50mm. It was a great little telescope that

had a pathetic little table top tripod. While I chose to keep the table

top tripod, I re-purposed a Woolco store brand tripod to take the

telescope as needed. That sky you see up there is what awaited me my first

night out with it, and as it turned out, its first light.

For my very first observation session, I set up in my front yard in the

Sandalwood neighborhood of Jacksonville. While we still had light

pollution, as well as the sweeping beacon from nearby Craig Airport, it

was not nearly as bad as it is now. You'll notice that two planets are

fairly close together, Saturn and Jupiter. That night, it was Saturn that

I chose for my primary target, the very first object to be observed. I

would sweep to Jupiter moments later, but once I got the focus on my

little Tasco set, the image of a small, elongated, yellow Saturn set my

heart racing. I do not remember what eyepiece I used initially. I think I

used Dr. Mike Reynold's advice and used my 20mm to locate the object and

then zooming in with the smaller eyepiece, what I think was a 6mm, with

horrible eye relief. Still, there was Saturn, clearly discernible, clearly

ringed, clearly Saturn.

While Saturn may be my favorite planet, I wasn't prepared for Jupiter.

With the smaller, higher power eyepiece in place, it was remarkable. There

it was, the somewhat flattened sphere that we all know and love, with the

Galilean satellites hovering close by. Now my pulse was racing.

As the months went by, I performed many sweeps with that little

instrument. The telescope lasted until at least 1989, when I took it apart

for cleaning and did damage to the objective lens.

The fact that I was able to see so many deep sky objects, as well as

Saturn and Jupiter, with such a small telescope blew me away. What's true

that many of those early astronomers had telescopes that weren't even the

equal of this modest little instrument, and they went on to define the

science so well, to lay the necessary groundwork that future generations

would work from.

Within the amateur astronomy community, you will frequently encounter

people of all sorts, and a good many of them will give you advice like

"stay away from department store telescopes." Those are wise words, but I

also think a bit hasty. Some of those department store telescopes can turn

out to be fine little instruments, if you understand their limitations.

On that summer night, so long ago, my little telescope didn't seem to have

any.
(Edit - the date of my first light is wrong in this entry. It was a Sunday night, and my journal indicates it was 14 June, 1981. The wonder was there, nonetheless. - RL)