One night years back, I found my skies in Grand Rapids, Michigan absolutely transparent. This is very unusual for this area. Eagerly, I set up my telescope lowered to allow me to sit. We had a moon not quite full, but huge. I settled in for some breathtaking Lunar observing. My Orion ED80, f7.5 refractor delivered in every conceivable way at 200X magnification
The mount was like silk. I put out my little MP3 player (remember those)? I had the Apollo 11 landing recording playing. The real stuff, all those radio repeater ” beeps” and everything.
I sat there mesmerized. I let the earth’s rotation do a lot of the work. But the mount’s controls were so smooth that I could easily adjust and steer like I was literally flying over the Moon. I became hypnotized, intoxicated with my trip to the Moon. I sat observing for the longest time. It was a very personal experience. It’s hard to share that with so many “innocent” others that can’t relate and have never been to the moon as I had. I felt like I was piloting the command module.
