A Schmidt-Cassegrain in Our Kitchen

My husband Wayne is an enthusiastic amateur astronomer. He has three telescopes, a Meade ETX125 (125 millimeter) Maksutov-Cassegrain, a Meade LX90 8-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain, and a Edmond Astroscan (for fun).

The LX90 has been a fixture in our cabin's kitchen for several years. On clear nights, Wayne takes it out to the corner of the deck for dark night observations. We have a small slice of the sky to view from Hole in the Wall, but the seeing conditions are excellent. Both telescopes have the Autostar computer-driven goto feature. That's really handy for finding some of the more distant objects. The ETX125 has recently moved from our condo to the cabin small storage room. There was so much light pollution in town, we decided it was better to have both models handy up the lake.

I used Wayne's telescope to take some Moon and Jupiter shots through the lens. In the future, I hope to take some more, but I need really bright objects for my little Canon digital camera to work.

One of my most memorable telescope experiences was with the Pomona Valley Amateur Astronomers. They booked an observing session at the Mt. Wilson Observatory's on the 60-inch telescope for the night. Not only is the scope massive, but it is a part of history. The observatory was founded in 1904 and in 1908 the 60-inch scope was installed. When it was built by George Ellery Hale in 1908, it was the largest telescope in the world. That night we saw Jupiter, Saturn and its moon Titan, a globular cluster, several planetary nebula and distant galaxies. It was quite a night!

Want to know more about our unique lifestyle in a floating cabin on Powell Lake in Coastal BC? Read Up the Lake writtem by my husband Wayne. It's available online at www.PowellRiverBooks.com -- Margy