It’s now about seven weeks since I smashed my leg into a low stool, and I’m still not fully mobile. I can walk around, but I can’t wear socks—they put pressure directly onto the injury and trigger another round of (ugh!) pain—and shoes are still uncomfortable, though I can wear them without socks. Sandals don’t seem to work for me either, since the straps don’t match the size of my feet from one day to the next. Harumph!
Anyway, this leaves me with a certain amount of time on my hands, and I can’t really say I’ve put it to good use. For some reason summer is a time for sales, and with deliveries from previous purchases also trickling in, I’ve got a fair amount of equipment lying around which has yet to be assembled and/or put to use.
Whenever I manage to get comfortably mobile again, I have projects lined up to go: (the execution order may vary, solely based on my whim at the time):
- Seestar S50 all-in-one vs [GS250 telescope/Juwei 17 mount/ 1/1.2” sensor]
- The S50 is a relatively inexpensive smart telescope, but other options are available, though at a higher price, requiring more effort. Once you pass the initial astronomy learning phase, is the S50 holding you back?
- Founder Optics Draco 62 telescope vs Touptek Hope D60 (2026 version) telescope
- These two scopes are comparable in size (SQA55 would have been another “close-ish” match) and the D60 has been suggested as a near-perfect small astrograph – but so has the slightly more expensive Draco 62. With similar mounts, targets, and cameras, does one come out best?
- SQA 130 telescope workout (on a MLAstro SAL-33 mount)
- This may have been done to death by this point!
- Everyone seems to love the Askar SQA series, and when a demo sample of the SQA 130 showed up at my local telescope store, I squeezed my bank account to near-death and bought it. No buyer’s remorse so far! (But it’s early days – stay tuned).
- Mini-cam 8 mono camera with photometric filters. Can you do “real astronomy” [whatever that means] with it? (All signs point to …? )
- Notes on observing from a bright city site (Bortle 9) vs a dark sky site (Bortle 2, if you are generous).
- I don’t get out enough, either way. Sigh. At least for the dark site I can blame the three hour drive to get there. And smoke. At either site.
Any last requests? [As Slappy Squirrel points out, “I’m old!”)
Dark Nights 