First Light
A refractor telescope for a 70th birthday
The ask
My father turns seventy in May. He has kept a small reflector in the garage since the moon landings and drags it out for every eclipse. We'd like to give him a real telescope and one night somewhere dark to use it. Around $15k.
The gift
A 150 mm apochromatic triplet refractor, one of its three lenses in low-dispersion glass, on a computerized equatorial mount built to carry up to 50 kg, with eyepieces and a foam-lined aluminum case. We book a ridge-top observatory beside a state park for the family alone, and we arrange for one of its volunteer astronomers to help him align the new telescope at dusk. A wax-sealed card arrives in the linen box.
Why it's extraordinary
A 150 mm lens gathers about 460 times the light of a dark-adapted eye, and a triplet keeps the edges of the Moon and planets clean of color fringes. He has wanted that view since 1969.
The moment
The first object of the night is the Moon, seen from a dark ridge through the lens he has wanted since 1969.
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