My Equipment

My
first real telescope was a 4 1/4 inch Palomar Jr. from Edmund
Scientific.  I got it for my birthday when I was 10 years old.  A
picture of it from an advertisement is shown here.  It came with two
eyepieces and a barlow lens.  The possible magnifications were 40, 90,
120, and 270.  I used the lowest power most of the time, and searched
for deep sky objects.  I remember being especially excited when I first
found M57, the Ring Nebula. 

Now
I observe with three telescops: an Orion 120 mm short tube refractor
(for low power wide field views), an Orion 127mm Maksutov Cassegrain
(for higher power views of the planets), and a 10 inch Orion Dobsonian
(for observing fainter objects).  All three are extremely portable.  I
can set them up on the deck within a just few minutes. When used with a
26mm wide field eyepiece, the refractor provides a 3 degree field of
view at a magnification of 23x.

The
Maksutov is shown equipped with William Optics binoviewers. This
combination helps me see more polanetary detail at high powers. The
"floaters" in one eye have less of a negative effect, and the viewing is
more comfortable Two eyes are better than one.

My
newest scope, a 10 inch Dobsonian, obviously allows me to see fainter
objects.  In particular, I can now follow variable stars through a
larger part of their cycle.  My magnitude limit is now approx. 14.0;
before it was 12.0. Callie, our Newfoundland, usually joins me when I
observe from our deck. As soon as she sees me getting a telescope ready,
she sits waiting by the sliding door.