To celebrate my oldest daughter Amanda's upcoming birthday this Wednesday I did up a " If it's your birthday or around your birthday or any one's birthday you know and you are first to send in a celestial image you get a meteorite" contest, congratulations Genie for being the first to send in the above super celestial Lunar image, love the title "Happy Birthday Bob's Daughter!" as well.
I just had to post the above Genie image, just because I think it is too cool, so original, again well done Genie.
People, if you are thinking of buying a telescope but are afraid you'll waste your hard earned money because you're afraid you may only use it a couple times, and you don't really have anywhere to put it.......... boy, have a got a scope for you. I am on Celestron's mailing list for new products and such, when I received the info on this little guy I just had to share it with you.
Celestron's FirstScope, small and compact, and at only $49.99 US or $62.49 CAD, can't really go wrong. Talk about a grab and go scope, more like a grab and hug scope, it's so cute. Got the sudden urge to look at the stars, no prob, just pull it out of it's small storage space, run outside to the patio table and you're good to go, it's that simple of a setup.
Don't let it's looks and size fool you, with a 3" mirror you'll be able to see the Moon, planets, and bright deep sky objects with it, even from the city. Objects like star clusters, some nebulae and brighter galaxies, like Andromeda will now be within your grasp. They won't be shipped out until May, I put my preorder in and will be talking about it further after I've had a chance to actually use it.
It comes with a couple eyepieces as well, a 20 mm gives you 15x magnification, as well as a 4mm giving you 75x magnification. It is named official product of the International Year Of Astronomy 2009.
I'll leave you now with one of my Lunar, Venus conjunctions animated.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Meteorite Winner and Celestron's FirstScope
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43 comments:
THANKS BOB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wish I'd known your daughter's name before I called her "Bob's daughter." Oh well. I hope she has a fabulous birthday.
Celestron's FirstScope is EXACTLY the kind of scope I need. I'm going to put it on my wishlist for my birthday! Maybe I'd have gotten to see the comet if I'd had this.
Thanks again, Bob, be well!
Happy Birthday Amanda!
Grab and hug telescope - it looks great! Hmm, Don has a birthday coming up . . . (I was too lazy to make myself go out and try a lunar photo yet, even though Anna provided such helpful instructions a while back.)
But since Genie did such a spectacular job, I don't feel too bad! Both photos are tremendous. I agree, the apple one is very clever and well done.
Happy Birthday, Amanda.
No problem Genie, thanks for entering and submitting a great pic for the contest, I should have mentioned her name in the previous post,lol. Hope you get your scope for your birthday as well, looks real good for the price.\m/\m/
Thanks for the Happy Birthday Roger.\m/\m/
Thanks for the Happy Birthday Ruth, I'm figuring she will be reading the comments. A telescope for Don, you guys would see lots out in the country.\m/\m/
Cool beans, Bob. I might just see if my hubby wants one of these. The painted moon is coming along nicely and I should be able to get a picture by this weekend if all goes well. I can't work on it, today, of course, 'cause it's Roxy's birthday.
And congrats to Genie for a beautiful lunar shot!
Thanks Stephanie and Ruth, kind of you both to say!
I dream of taking photos like Bob does though, le Sigh, he takes the cake. Those sunsets! Gasp.
Happy birthday Amanda!! i hope you have a great day!!
You certainly seem to have a great family!!
Oh bob am I too late? I used my 400mm the other night and took a ton of shots of the moon.
Please email me and tell me where to send you the photo...I can't find any contact info for you!!
sunshinezdelight@yahoo.com
Hugs,
Jackie:-)
Congratulations Genie!! I just read the post more clearly.
Okay Amanda let's hope your father chooses this again next year.
Happy birthday again Amanda!!:-)
Happy birhtday to me! I just wanted to say thanks to everyone for their warm wishes, and that I'm glad that meteorite will go to a home that will appreciate it! Chances are good my dogs would have thought it was for them!
Congrats to Genie, and thank you for the mention. Your photos are fantastic! Keep up the 'stellar' work! (You can see where I get my sense of humour!)
Happy Birthday Amanda! And thank you! Heck, not to worry if your dog swallowed a meteorite. If it made it through the atmosphere a molten ball of flame, it would probably make it through your dogs' intestinal tract okay. Oh, wait, you were probably worried about the dogs. Never mind.
Thank you Shinade! We ought to start a "Stuff for Bob to give away" fund so he can go out and buy more meteorites or moon dust to give away!
Send my birthday wish to your Amanda!
And also, Congrats to Genie! :)
Thanks Stephanie, I'm sure you'll both love the scope. Cool about the painting, I'm looking forward to seeing it for sure, and Happy Birthday to little Roxy!!\m/\m/
Gee thanks Genie, and congrats again on getting your space rock, I sent it out air on Monday.\m/\m/
Hi Jackie, send in your images anyways I will still post even though the contest is over, but all is not lost,you get another chance, I will be doing another meteorite giveaway to celebrate my youngest daughter's wedding and Wife's birthday in June.\m/\m/
Happy Birthday again Amanda, yes you do have wit, you are always good to have around at parties,lol. I know what you mean about the puppies, they do like playing with and chewing on things,lol.\m/\m/
Lol, Genie, the puppies have a tendency to chew on everything and anything, hey I like the donation fund thingy,lol.\m/\m/
Hey Cashmere, good to hear from you again and thanks for the Birthday wishes and Genie congrats.\m/m\/
Bob:
That's a great picture of the moon. Clear, with no hand shake. Well done to the person who sent it in. Love the apple/moon shot also. Very creative.
A miniature Newtonian with a three-inch mirror. Cool. I'll be looking forward to your shake down so we can see how this little baby performs at the North Pole!
Nice water reflection.
Happy stargazing.
Hi! I wonder if Amanda minds being called the oldest. Perhaps, "first born" may be more appreciated. Ok! I'm the oldest in my family, but I think the first born title adds a youthful side to those that are the eldest.
Will we see the celestron's Firstscope coming to Australia?
Take Care,
Peter
Thanks swubird I'm sure Genie appreciates your comment as well.
It will be cool to test out this puppy, I 'll let you know how it performs in the cold, mind you it should be warmer by June when I get it, hopefully,lol.\m/\m/
Lol, first born might be a little less harsh Peter,lol.
The scope should be available to you in Australia as well, if not and you want one I can get you one and ship to you.\m/\m/
What an awesome tip for an affordable scope :o) I may have to check that out myself.
I always wanted to ask: How do you make your close-up pics? Does your scope have a camera?
BOb,
Happy birthday to your daughter! Cool pictures as usual. Keep up the good work!
Jesse
yea, Genie's image is too cool, it is like I can feel the curves and the texture of the moon.
Thank you, Cashmere!
Swubird, I cheated, I used a tripod! Thanks for the compliment!
Thanks Betchai, both for the compliment and the complimentary critique!
It's really humbling to see my photos on Bob's fantastic blog. I get embarrassed every time someone compliments the photos--I mean, compared to Bob's.... well, it really is humbling.
I can't wait to get my meteorite! I'm planning a very special blog entry about the whole thing! I may even find someone who can turn the piece into a necklace for me. I like my meteors close to me!
Thanks Ivanhoe, it looks very cool, what an awesome price point, once i get to try it out I'll let you know how it actually works in the field, how it measures up to the tons of other scopes I've used over the years.
I just use my Canon 40D with the 300mm lens, I crop some pics to get rid of the stuff I don't want in the frame. Some pics, and I mention at the time I post, I attach my camera with an adapter to my scope.
I did just purchase a 1.5 tele extender for my Camera and it seems to be making a big difference as well.\m/\m/
Thanks Jesse, and thanks for the Birthday wishes for my daughter.\m/\m/
Thanks betchai, Genie did a great job on those images for sure.\m/\m/
Thanks again Genie for all the great words. Hopefully you'll get your meteorite this week, went out by air Monday.\m/\m/
Oh Bob these are cool photos. And thanks for the tips about the firstscope, lol, sounds like something else, but anyway, my Bday is coming up and so my license renewal, lol, may be I can add this to my wish list. The photo with the apple is actually cool. Have you ever seen the Apple (computer) logo during economic crisiis, it looks just like that lol [eaten apple). Cool post as always, and happy bday to your daughter. Anna :)
Hey Anna, thanks, they are cool Genie photos and thanks for the Birthday wishes for my daughter.
Good luck with your scope wish list and thanks for the link you sent me, very interesting and goes nicely with my "we should get off this planet before the big one comes along" posts,lol.\m/\m/
Happy Belated Birthday to Amanda. Wow, I just love the uniqueness of these pics. Great shot Genie!
Hi Dr. Lauren , thanks for the Birthday wishes for Amanda and the nice comment for Genies pics.\m/\m/
That apple picture is VERY cool!
I got the meteorite!!!!!! It's awesome! I blogged all about it, naturally. Thank you Bob! It came on Saturday but I've been busy with company.
I love it!
Even an inexpensive telescope can be quite rewarding. I'm no astronomer, but during the close approach of Mars a few years ago, I bought the cheapest Celestron I could find--under $100--and was able to get a great view of Mars from the balcony of my downtown condo. And I've seen the rings of Saturn as well.
Bob, maybe your site will inspire me to use it more!
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