[bwalters]

Hi All; Today I bought a computerized telescope. I have been thinking about doing this for several weeks. This thing has a computer and motors connected to it. There are several ways to get it going. I use a way that you first level the Scope then point it tword the north. Then it will start moving tword a star in the sky. Once you line that star up you tell it OK and it goes to another star and you line that up. Once you have done that then it allows you to select what you want to see. ( I don't like that option) or it allows you to see what is available that night. Once you select that it will tell what planets, Stars, Nebulas, Comets, and what ever else there is. Once you select what you want to see it starts moving to that object. Lets say the moon. Then it will track the moon accross the sky all night. The really amaizeing thing about this telescope is it only cost $200. Of course I pick a weekend that is cloudy to buy one. The only problem I have found with it is if you want to see something on earth. It is upside down and backwards.

[Tojo]

Can you use it to check whether TRU & Walmart have smurfs Bill

I like the idea of the telescope. I've thought about buying one myself. The problem is that I only recognise a few constellations & none of the planets so a computerised one which tells me what everything is sounds like a good idea The biggest problem is the amount of background light. We went to an observatory in England built in the 1950's last year which was interesting. It replaced the Greenwich Observatory which couldn't be used anymore dut to too much background light in London. Now the replacement is useless for the same reason. The replacement of the replacement is now in Hawaii I beleive....

[bwalters]

Yea too much light makes it very hard to see the stars. You have to go into the country for it to be able to see very well. This telescope has 1,430 objects that the computer will find for you. Plus the countless stars in the sky not in there.

[Smurfysmurf]

You have to go into the country for it to be able to see very well.

Unless you are surrounded by trees, Bill...I haven't seen the sky in 12 years. I remember looking at it back in Germany though..after a night out in the country (might have seen more stars than there actually were ) and it always fascinated me.

I hope the sky is clear tonight and you get to enjoy the telescope

[bwalters]

Thanks Moey and Tojo. No Tojo I can't see if they have Smurfs the house next door is in the way. Along with about 100 others and about that many business's. The Telescope I got was a Reflecting one. Which makes everything upside down. So it is not good for looking at things on earth. These are the one's with the big barrel. The one's with the long smaller barrel are refracting and make everything backwards. Difficult to read things but if you are looking at a tree or person is not bad. I went to Meade.com last night and this telescope sell for $329 on there I got it for $200 at Sam's. Moey it looks like you have a fairly nice clearing in your back yard that would work for most stars. It is so neat to look at the stars. I had one a few years back and when I heard the news of the shuttle disenigrating over Texas I got it out. And could see stuff falling from the shuttle. I could see it with the naked eye but it just looked like a stream of smoke. The say some stuff fell all the way to Missouri and I lived in southren Missouri at the time. That was a sad day.