You know you’ve received a great present when you realize that it’s something that you’ve wanted for years but never really knew that you wanted it. I have just received such a present.
Nikki was very excited to give it to me, and when I came home on Thursday, I was greeted with a very large box that gave almost nothing away. I looked at the box itself and the only clue was the label: Meade Scientific equipment.
The word ’scientific’ narrowed it down to two things, either I was getting an oscilloscope or a telescope. Since I have no practical use for an oscilloscope, it was apparent. I was getting a telescope!
Being the huge astrophysics nerd that I am, the prospect of seeing some small part of the universe really excites me. The possibility that I could see a nebula, a pulsar (not likely) or a couple of galaxies is absolutely intriguing, but Nikki went the extra mile. This telescope has a built-in computer that automatically positions the telescope at over 30,000 interesting phenomena. Furthermore, she got me a great filter set, two eyepieces and a camera mount.
What you see here is the first acceptable image taken with that mount. I’m still figuring out how to take pictures with the telescope (heck, even finding the moon was a challenge at first), but the views that I saw were breathtaking. You really get a sense of depth and weight that’s missing when you see the moon with the naked eye. Also, the immense blackness of space is both awe inspiring and downright scary. What’s more, you really start to understand the physics of it all. You can actually see the earth turn in real time –and you have to compensate for it or the moon veers off your field of view.
What a great present. Nikki got me the Universe.
December 23rd, 2006 at 6:11 pm
[...] Steve opening his Chanukah present - a telescope. He loved it and said he had always wanted one, but probably never would have bought it for himself, which makes it a great gift. [...]
December 28th, 2006 at 9:16 am
COOL REAL COOL