Tim Printy's Astronomy web page
My first interest in Astronomy had a lot to do with an early interest in the space program. During the moon landings, I recall trying to make a telescope out of inexpensive magnifying lenses that did not work out very well. Next, my father bought me a telescope for Christmas, which was poorly constructed and did not achieve the magnifications it claimed it would reach. It was nothing more than a 3X telescope and not much better than my original attempt with the magnifying glasses. However, I did receive a book called "The Stars" and "The Sky Observer's guide" and used them to start educating myself and learning the constellations. I finally got a working telescope a year later with a small tabletop 40mm scope that could reach 50X. I quickly accelerated through several telescopes as I became involved in the local astronomy club. My last scope of this period in my life was a 3" refractor. More important was that I had expanded my understanding of the sky and had become knowledgable in other aspects of the astronomical hobby other than just looking at the moon. I had observed the Messier objects, submitted observations of meteors, observed and timed lunar occultations, and even experimented with astrophotography. At this point, I was hooked for life!
Before I joined the Navy, I acquired a 35mm Pentax camera and started my life long obsession with Astrophotography. When I first joined the Navy, my obsession with the hobby had to take a back seat as I moved about too much and spent too much time at sea to really do much in the way of Astronomy. However, I managed to buy my first Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescope with the venerable (and inexpensive compared to Celestron) 8" Dynamax telescope. When I was assigned to my first shore tour, I progressed through the idea of piggy-backing my camera and learning more about taking pictures. It was the Dynamax that allowed me to photograph Comet Halley in 1986. There is an extensive discussion on astrophotography in the link below, which I have updated to basically focus on Digital SLR's and CCD cameras. Today, I have all sorts of telescopes I use for astrophotography. My main instrument is an 8" F5 reflector. Living in Manchester, NH makes it difficult to do much in way of astronomy during the winter months but I manage to do my best.
The following links will help you navigate my website and see some of the events I have recorded over the years. Hopefully, there are some tips that might just help you out in planning your next astronomical event or getting started in some aspect of Astronomy.
Any comments or questions can be directed at me by just emailing me at tprinty_comcast.net (substitute the _ with the "at" symbol)
My 100 best astrophotography targets
Back to my main web page where you can read about my other interests and hobbies.