Hello Friend,

   If you have been in this hobby for a while, then you might remember a book written many years
ago by amateur astronomer, Ken Fulton.

     The book  was called the Light Hearted Astronomer, and it was a somewhat amusing rant
about his experiences at the time.

Maybe you have even read it.  It is out of print now, but occassionally the odd one turns up
at used bookstores.

Well old Ken he is just one of these old school type of guys, who thinks that amateur astronomers
starting out today in the hobby, should learn the sky the  "hard way", just like he and many others did,
years ago, including yours truly.

      There is a lot to be said for that, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with learning how to
star hop to locate objects, and gaining some familiarity and appreciating of  h the night sky.

     Kids today however, are really familiar with computers, so asking them to manually point a
telescope to find an object, may not get them too excited.

Plus, there attention spans are more limited it seems.

Ken also has Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD), my dedicated, eye-to-the-eyepiece, high-powered observing days are over.
Done with.  Kaput!  he now laments.

   Well Ken probably is not going to like what I am going to say next, but we just put a whole wack of Celestron
computerized telescopes on sale, right over here.

http://khanscope.com/specials.cfm

    Ken is probably covering his ears right about now and thinking that old school, does not mean old fool.

But the truth is, that just before the first computerized digital circle telescopes came out, I recall many "purist"
amateur astronomers vow they would never buy such things to assist them in finding night sky objects.

   Of course,once stock arrived at the store, guess who was first in line to buy them?

Yup, that's right.  Sorry Ken!

Clear Skies,

Ray Khan