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(IAAC) self introduction
Hello Everyone,
I have been enjoying your introductions and how you became interested
and involved in amateur astronomy. I like many of you became interested
at an early age first of all just noticing the beauty of the night sky
before the days when people became afraid of the dark and had to have
all these night lights. In the late '40 while in the second grade we
were reading a Weekly Reader that had an article about a telescope and
some of the wonders in the sky. My interest was created then and ever
since I read all I could find on the subject. In the early '60 I visited
a local club several times and was able to take my first peek through a
4" reflector at M51. I was hooked. The club disbanded so a few years
later I bought a K-Mart special 3" reflector piece of junk that seemed
to work well for over 30 years.
A few years ago on my 50 birthday I decided to expand into my hobby as
much as I could and began researching telescopes. I joined a local
astronomy club about the time Meade came out with the 16" Dobs. The 16"
was one I could handle by myself so I ordered one that took seven
months to deliver. After three weeks of clouds I found a whole new sky.
It was just like starting over. Here in Southeast Texas the humid sky is
a challenge for any scope but the Meade does well. Sadly my little 3"
fell of the shelf and destroyed itself but it had served its purpose
well for a long time.
After doing the Messier and the Caldwell, which are all the easy ones, I
am working on the first group of Herschels but don't seem to be getting
to many at my home because of light pollution and just too many trees
but the club has a dark sight where the sky is darker where I have a
tendency to find a pretty spot in the sky and just stay a while...
Bob McAlister
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