Its a new "Phenix" 6 inch (150mm) Newtonian, reflecting telescope with a focal length of 750 mm which is going to be perfect for my deep space observations, and even Derek is interested in this from a photographic point of view as photography is his main hobby!!
My passion for astronomy began as a child when my dad took me out into the garden at night when I was 4 or 5 years old, with his binoculars to look for the infamous Comet Kohoutek!! From that moment on I was obsessed and saved up for my first telescope when I was 10. This was a tiny 2.5 inch reflector but it was better than binoculars and I got amazing views of the moon and planets, as well as fuzzy looking galaxies in Orion's belt! My bedroom had been packed with astronomy books during this time, and I spent many nights observing and keeping notes in a note book. As I grew up and other elements of my life took hold, I kind of left my love for astronomy on the door-step of my childhood home. Now it appears that I am going to have to dust off those old cob-webbed memories of how to observe, and start a fresh in this exciting hobby!! As a Fellow Craft freemason its my duty to study the 7 arts and sciences of which astronomy is one....When it arrived yesterday the massive box weighed an absolute ton, this is by no means a small telescope and even the scope counter weight weighs in the region of 30lbs!!! It took me about 30 mins to assemble which was fairly easy as it was just like my smaller version only on a much larger scale!! and I didn't miss Coronation Street!, but its taking up a massive space in my dining room!! Any way, I can't wait to try it, but this is realy the wrong time of year to observe. Winter is far better with darker and clearer nights and Derek even suggested we take nightly drives into the country to observe, where there is no light polution. This might be a bit difficult because of the size of the thing. Even taking it off the huge tripod it would only just fit in the boot!!
In other news!!
Because of the gorgeous warm weather at the moment the spa isen't taking as long to heat up in the evenings so now I only put the heater on at 4pm for my night-time bubble session. Last night it was a baking 41 degrees!!! Almost TOO hot!!
Recently I bought a couple of spa acessories: The first being a folding, hanging camping shelves for hanging my flip flops up in...Sirius has a very puppyish habbit of running off with my flip flops when I am in the spa, so this idea is to stop him. Its also a good place to keep my glasses and other bits. Secondly I bought a cast iron book holder so I can read my books while bubbling away in the tub. At the moment I am reading Alison Weir's "Six Wives" AGAIN!! But I really do need to finish Phillipa Gregory's superb "White Queen" also. Oh and I got some tent curtains for the gazebo so its totally private for nude bathing! This is more healthy for the water as it keeps it cleaner!
Ok, need to hop off now and brush up on my astronomy!!
:) x