Do you feel that your telescope is just too small? 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 with. To show what you can do with a modest instrument, there are pages of moon images and planet images taken through instruments as small as 2 inch (50mm) aperture, and no bigger than 6 inch (150mm). Though I've been an amateur astronomer for some 45 years (and a professional astronomer for some of that time), I primarily use 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 generally use 6 inch Newtonians. I also often use a Meade ETX-90 because of its charm and convenience, and still own and use a small 2 inch Jaegers refractor and a vintage 60mm refractor. And yes, I even use binoculars for stargazing, comet viewing, and special celestial events. My favorite pair is my 15x70 Barska Binoculars.

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 for specialized use.

My Astro T-Shirt Designs

If you haven't purchased a telescope yet, check out the tutorials such as the Telescope Overview, or the specific tutorials on Refractors, Newtonians, Dobsonians, Cassegrains, and Telescope Mounts .

Hopefully, these will help you get a feel for what type of instrument you need for what you enjoy viewing, and reveal approximately what it might cost to satisfy your interests. Most of the information presented is obtained from my personal experience.

Some Telescope Shopping Suggestions

For starters (and for optics you'll use for years) consider a quality pair of binoculars. I often use a pair of 15x70 binoculars, and can see most Messier objects with them. I can see all the Messier open clusters, several nebula, and a number of galaxies. In addition, my best comet views have been obtained with binoculars, and I've had very enjoyable views of special celestial events, such as the crescent moon passing near the Pleiades.

Only the planetary nebula and small globular clusters are poor targets for my binoculars. The objects are not too dim, just too small to be distinguished from stars.

You can shop for many major binocular brands by entering astronomical binoculars in the SHOP.COM search utility. There you can check out binoculars from Barska, Orion, Zhumell, Vixen, Celestron and several other suppliers.

For a wide range of telescope possibilities, enter astronomical telescopes in the SHOP.COM search window, and you'll find Meade, Celestron, Vixen, and several other popular brands at competitive prices.

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

I often use even a small, 50mm telescope refractor. At f/15, my 50mm Jaegers provides surprisingly good images of the moon, planets, and countless star objects. Its main limitation is it's limited ability to resolve the dimmer galaxies, though some practiced observers can even detect many of those with a small 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 many will never return within your lifetime.

Looking for some Astronomical Humor?

My Astro Poetry

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? To satisfy my own astronomical itch, I'm working on some astronomical theme 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 at Betchalikeit 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 once make a 6 inch f/4.5 Newtonian from scratch, including the primary mirror. That experience was enough for me. But there are many much less intensive telescope building and modifying projects you can try.

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 science fiction and fantasy novels. Over the years I've been spellbound by many great writers, my favorites being Arthur C. Clarke and Andre Norton. I've studied fiction writing under a couple of experienced novelists, and have been recently trying my own hand at writing science fiction.

As my works become available, I'll tell you about them. If you're interested in reading them, you can get them at L D Smith's Novels. You can get the works in either paperback 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: .