How I Bought a Really Big Telescope

Friends at one of the star parties I attend periodically.

My grandfather presented me with my first telescope, a drugstore 2.5-inch Tasco telescope, when I was ten years old. It was then that I began my lifelong love of astronomy. Since that first instrument, other telescopes have followed. There was the 3.1- inch telescope I received from my parents for Christmas during high school—the best present ever. As an adult, I have used numerous telescopes located at observatories near where I lived. I acquired my current personal instrument, a 20-inch reflector, twenty-two years ago. Although I still use other telescopes from time-to-time, my 20-inch is currently my go-to star gazing tool. My scope employs a mirror twenty inches in diameter to capture light. I haul it around in a small trailer wherever I need to go.

There’s an important truth about saving your pennies to buy a telescope with such a large and expensive glass mirror. On a museum curator’s salary, it takes a very long time. For me, it took five years of saving, saving and more saving. That translates into over fifty months of not eating out, saying no to expensive vacations, pausing on new clothes and many other personal financial sacrifices. I had some help in the form of a gift from my grandfather toward the cause, but committed saving is the key and I am happy to report my family did not suffer. 

In the late 1990’s, $5,000 was the starting point to begin looking for a large aperture scope. That’s where I was in 1998 and purchasing something previously owned seemed the way to go. Telescope owners are generally a meticulous bunch, so latching onto something gently used usually results in acquiring equipment that is as good as new. That’s the route I took. 

An array of telescopes at one of the star parties I attend periodically.

By the spring of 1998 I had saved up the necessary funds. I eagerly watched my mailbox for my monthly subscription to the now defunct publication, The Starry Messenger, with listings for used telescopes for sale. For a several months, everything I followed up on was sold before I could seal the deal. I would also frequently check Astromart, an on-line web site, where amateur astronomers posted used equipment for sale. As the months passed, I was sorely disappointed that nothing was showing up for me to buy.

After five months—and with $5,000 burning a hole in my pocket—I finally found my dream telescope. This is where the story gets interesting. Five years earlier a Tri-State observing acquaintance of mine offered to sell me his 20-inch telescope. He had recently laid eyes on an even larger instrument and having two telescopes was not in his plans. At the time I had just begun my saving process, and did not have the funds, so I had to let this telescope go. 

Flash forward five years. There it was. My Tri-State acquaintance’s 20-inch telescope was up for sale on the on-line web site. I’d been privileged to look through this telescope many times and by this time you can imagine that I regretted letting it slip though my fingers five years earlier. I was not about to lose this scope!

My 20-inch reflecting telescope at one of the star parties I attend every year.

A quick email (yes, Virginia, we really had email in 1998) and several phone calls later I had purchased the scope. The fact that the seller knew the previous owner and I knew them helped slide the deal in my direction. Accompanied by my wife and two sons, we traveled in our four door Saturn sedan and met the seller in Texarkana, Arkansas. After $5,000 (cash) changed hands, I rolled the telescope (it has its own removable wheels) inside the trailer I bought to house just such a telescope. It was a done deal. My 20-inch Obsession telescope was on its way to its new home.

Since becoming obsessed with astronomy as a ten year old, I have traveled with my telescope to observing locations and to star parties as distant as Arizona, Texas, West Virginia and Mississippi. I have known the convenience of observing from my own backyard and made trips to a favorite nearby observing site—the Hamilton County Conservation Area in southern Illinois—countless times. Although it’s not the only place where you’ll find me enjoying the night sky, it’s one of the best nearby spots. 

Postscript: The Tri-State acquaintance who was the original owner of my telescope was Dr. Gregg Eubanks of Eldorado, Illinois. During the 1990’s and through the oughts our acquaintance grew into a lifelong friendship. Together, with a cadre of friends with a similar bent, Gregg and I traveled with our telescopes to some amazing places and shared awe inspiring views with each of our telescopes on countless occasions. I lost my best friend to an unexpected death in 2009. I am reminded of him frequently when I bring my telescope out to the night sky. A brass plaque affixed to the telescope remains with his name on it. This story and the story of my telescope is dedicated in his memory. Dr. Gregg Eubanks, 1954-2009.