Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Astronomical History

You are looking at astronomical history. This is my friend Rich, a long time member of the Astronomical Society of Long Island. He was the featured speaker tonight at our meeting, and in front of him is his first telescope, a 60mm Tasco refractor which he received for Christmas in 1967 when he was a boy. He spoke of his beginnings in astronomy, and of first seeing some of the wonders of the universe through this telescope. This was the scope which started it all for him. Today, this would be considered a "toy" telescope. He loaned it to his brother years ago, and recently got it back in poor condition, so he went in search of parts and lovingly restored it over the past year. What is particularly nice is that he has the original box it came in. His guess is that the telescope cost about $30 when it was new.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

AMAZING! Rich must be a bigger saver than you. :-)
I love that he still has his boyhood telescope with the box!! The memories are the best. And you have your boyhood trains!
Joan