My Second, First Telescope

After learning my lesson I spent a solid week researching telescopes, obsessively, for amateur astrophotography.  I read reviews and scoured Amazon for deals.  With my first purchase still lingering, I was pretty price sensitive.  After a lot of internal debate, I decided to go with the Celestron AstroMaster 130 EQ-MD.  The reviews on Amazon were so-so, but I found much better reviews on Telescopes.com.  I actually drove 45 minutes north to a photography and telescope score to take a quick in person look at the model.  It was selling for $299 there, so the Amazon deal with the included motor drive was a huge plus.

With Amazon Prime (my favorite), a shiny new telescope was at my door two days later.  Setup was easy, but a little more involved than the simple Travel Scope I first bought.  The packaging comes with some hex keys and a multitool, but assembly is minimal.  It took maybe 30 minutes or so to get everything setup.

Unfortunately, just when I had everything ready to go, thick clouds started rolling in.  To be continued….