Do you feel that your telescope is just too small? Astro T-Shirt Designs Here's a friendly place for you to hang out if you get the feeling that your small telescope just isn't big enough to do anything fun with. To show what you can do with a modest instrument, there are pages of moon images and planet images accomplished with instruments as small as 2 inch (50mm) aperture, and no bigger than 6 inch (150mm). I myself, an amateur astronomer for some 45 years, am a user of small and modest sized telescopes. I've been through aperture fever, having owned up to a 10 inch behemoth Newtonian on an Equatorial mount, but now I primarily use 6 inch Newtonians. I also often use an ETX-90 because of its charm and convenience, and still own and use a small 2 inch Jaegers refractor.

Still haven't purchased that first telescope?

In case you're considering a telescope purchase, I've tried to layout the basic characteristics of four major types of telescopes used by amateur astronomers, as well as some information on binoculars. The telescope types discussed are the refractor, the Newtonian equatorial, the Dobsonian, and the Cassegrain (2 types). There are other types of telescopes available for the amateur, but in general they are either quite expensive or special in use. If you haven't purchased a telescope yet, I suggest you check out the tutorials to learn about astronomical telescopes, telescope mounts, and get a feel for the optimal use and costs of the different types of instruments. Much of the information presented is obtained from my personal experience.

If you're familiar with binoculars and telescopes, here's a few suggestions.

For starters (and for optics you'll use for years) consider a quality pair of binoculars. I often use a pair of 15x70s, and can see most Messier objects with them, including open clusters, nebula, and a number of galaxies. In addition, my best comet views have been obtained with binoculars, and I've had a very enjoyable view of a crescent moon passing near the Pleiades.

Only the planetary nebula and small globular clusters are poor targets for my binoculars. They're not too dim, just too small to be recognized from a star.

A good online source of binoculars with a wide selection is Binoculars.com .

Another source for binoculars, telescopes, and cameras of all manner is adoroma.com. Whether you want a classic Newtonian, a Schmidt Cassegrain, a Maksutov, or a quality refractor, Adorama is a good choice. With a telescope of any of these designs you'll be able to see those planetary nebula, globular clusters, the dimmer galaxies, as well as details on the moon and planets.

Another good place for telescopes is: Dobsonian Telescopes - Shop at Dobsonian.com for the best selection and prices on Dobsonian Telescopes. Dobsonian Telescopes. Once of their best sellers, and a very good deal is their 8 inch Dobsonian. A lot of seeing for the dollar. They also sell other telescope types in addition to Dobsonians.

If you want to build your own telescope, check out the Dobsonian plans at Dobsonian Plans.

If you're a beginner and want a good, inexpensive, low maintenance telescope, I'd recommend the Celestron Firstscope 60 listed at adoroma.com for less than $100. Others may disagree, but I know of a group of experienced observers that primarily use 60mm telescopes for their portability and easy use, and this model has received good reviews. Adorama has many other models at any price range, so give them a good look.

I often use even a 50mm telescope, similar to the Celestron 60mm. At f/15, both my 50mm Jaegers and the Celestron 60mm provide surprisingly good images of the moon, planets, and countless star objects. Their main limitation is the dimmer galaxies, though some practiced observers can even detect many of those, though of course not resolve them as one would with a much larger instrument.

Where can you get more information?

What's It All About?

What many people like about astronomy as a hobby is that each night can be an adventure. There's always the old friends up there, constellations and stars that return each season. But there's always change as well. The planets get closer then further away. Jupiter has it's moons move across its surface for entertaining (and scientifically valuable) displays, not to mention storms so vast that even amateur sized telescopes can see them.

Saturn flaunts its rings in varying configurations over the years, and each Mars opposition has surprises. You'll definitely regret missing an encounter with a comet, since most will never return within your lifetime.

Looking for some Astronomical Humor?

Astro Art Designs

If you're like me, astronomy is in your blood. I started reading every astronomy book I could get my hands on clear back in grade school. I spent summers building astro-cams and telescopes, and I'm sure I drove my parents nuts. Sound familiar? I bet it does. To satisfy my own astronomical itch, I'm working on some astronomical images suitable for display on t-shirts (and other products). I've always enjoyed science images or humor on t-shirts. I decided to make a few of my own, and I invite you to check them out here under the astronomy section. You can check out the growing Sci Fi section too if you wish.

What else is coming?

Soon I intend to add helpful tables and utilities to help you plan your observing, or telescope building or modification project. For example, you'll soon see how to use a conventional 35mm SLR camera as a great star shooter.

I also intend to add pages on some telescope building, though I'm not into mirror grinding. I did it once when I made a 6 inch f/4.5 Newtonian. That was enough. But there are many much less intensive telescope building and modifying projects you can try to get more from the hobby.

As I run across things I find interesting, I'll try to keep my favorite sites listing growing. So enjoy your stay, mark the site, and check back once in awhile.

Some other Novel Pursuits

Another interest of mine is writing science fiction novels. As they become available, I'll tell you about them. If you're interested in reading them, you can find where to purchase them in either hard copy or PDF format (PDF is a bargain, a full length novel for less than the price of a hamburger).

If you wish to contact me about the website, send email to: .