Meade 10-inch f/4.5 EQ Newtonian model DS-10A pictured below.

I’m really glad I talked with Fred Pauli on that February night so many years ago and “made the decision upon his recommendation ” to purchase the 10-inch. At that time, I had no idea I would eventually spend more 1,500 hours with this telescope under a night sky over the next 34 years. I would also make hundreds and hundreds of observing notes and pencil sketches using this telescope. It was a revelation going from a 4-inch telescope to a 10-inch.

The telescope was really large and heavy, but I didn’t care, as the views made the extra effort worth it! However, the time had come for me to find a new owner for this telescope. It was getting heavier and heavier with each passing year and the time had come to find a new owner for this telescope. However, the scope had served me well for more than three decades.

I ordered the telescope from Pauli’s Wholesale Optics in Danbury, Connecticut, on Wednesday, February 5th 1992 at 9:00 PM from the owner himself…Fred Pauli. It was Fred that recommended the 10-inch. This was in the days before email or ordering online. I would purchase a lot of astronomy equipment over the next eight or ten years from Wholesale Optics.

Sometimes I’d call and place an order at 10:00 in the morning, sometimes 10:00 at night, but whenever I’d call, it was always Fred who answered the phone. I’d talk with Fred briefly, give him my Master Card number and would normally receive my order in about a week.

When I got home from work on Monday, February 10th, some large brown corrugated boxes were stacked up in front of my garage door.

I was wanting to purchase a smaller Newtonian, but Fred Pauli recommended a larger 10-inch telescope. At that time, I had no idea I would eventually spend more than 1,500 hours with this telescope under a night sky over the next 34 years. I would also make hundreds and hundreds of observing notes and pencil sketches.

This telescope allowed me to become more active in my local astronomy club: The Cleveland County Astronomical Society, and then about eight years later, the Las Vegas Astronomical Astronomical Society. I had family living there, and still do. It was with my local club that I began writing observing articles for the monthly newsletter.

After becoming a member of the Las Vegas Astronomical Society in about December 2008, I met Fred Rayworth. The both of us were visual observers, and founded the Observer’s Challenge report. Our first report was issued in February 2009. Fred and I compiled the report through about 2017.

After years as a report contributor, Sue French became an administrator in 2018, and then co-editor with myself in compiling the report for its last five years. It was Sue’s notoriety, as an editor for “Sky & Telescope” magazine that helped gain a much wider audience of more serious amateurs. Sue deserves much credit for the report’s success and continued success.

The report continues to have high daily downloads, despite the last report being issued in June, 2024. There are both astronomy clubs and amateurs at-large that continue to use the challenge report for reference or as an observing agenda.

The larger aperture of the 10-inch versus the smaller telescopes I’d been using, allowed me to make far better pencil sketches, and observing notes. A sampling of my pencil sketches without any embellishments, and without the use of a computer. I have hundreds and hundreds of pencil sketches.

Life changes:

After spending so much time and effort over the past 34 years under a night sky…my observing will now be far less and I’ll be going back to using small telescopes. And I have so many other interest, like cycling, weight lifting, history and especially local history. I also need to note, most importantly…I have a family. 🙂

Roger Ivester (North Carolina)

The following pencil sketch shows that serious deep-sky observing can be enjoyed even with an 80 mm refractor.

 

I used an Orion 80mm f/5 refractor telescope and a Nikon D3300 camera for my very first photo of the moon:

Other attempts of the moon:

Easy enough to attach the camera to the telescope:

I changed the “single-screw” attachment ring on the back of the telescope, to a more secure “carbon-fiber” ring with two-screws to more securely hold the camera: Debbie

An observing event was held last night (February 19th 2026) on the campus of Gardner-Webb University in Boiling Springs, NC, featuring a custom made 29-inch telescope by Don Brooks. Don has been active in amateur astronomy for many years, and is currently the President of the Cleveland County Astronomical Society.

It should also be noted: Longtime CCAS member, Steve Davis also attended the event last night. Steve works at the “Bare Dark Sky Observatory at Mayland Earth to Sky Park” and is an operator of the 34-inch telescope. The facility is located in Burnsville, NC and the 34-inch telescope is one of the largest public telescopes in the southeastern US.

I’ve been friends with both Don and Steve for more than 30 years.

The telescope:

It has a 29-inch mirror which was produced by Coulter Optics in California during the 80’s. No one seems to know “definitively” how many 29-inch mirrors were produced. Don is aware of “possibly” eight to ten. However, I communicated with an amateur on (February 20th 2026) living in Minnesota who has one in storage, which would add to the count.

Don built everything (other than the mirror and the focuser) which was an extraordinary task. A mirror this size has incredible weight and the mirror cell must be built strong enough to properly hold and secure without causing stress to the mirror. Building only the mirror cell is an engineering feat in itself.

I can’t properly convey just how difficult building a telescope this size would be, and the mechanical skills required.

Below: Don gets the telescope ready for the evening.

The mirror cell designed and build by Don, is both beautiful and strong with 27-points of support.

Photo of the moon through the telescope using a cellphone:

Custom Focuser:

Rocker Box:

The following photos are from Monday, February 23rd 2026. The temperature was below freezing….not too bad, but with a @ 15-20 mph NW wind!

Don Brooks and Billy Fisher setting up the telescope. It became too cold for me, and had to leave shortly after sunset.

In about 1991, I began looking for something larger than my 4.5-inch reflector which I was using at that time. The Meade Deep-Space series Newtonian’s consisted of two telescopes: A 10-inch and 16-inch f/4.5 with equatorial mounts.

This was at a time when Meade was building their serious Newtonian’s in their Costa Mesa, facility, which included grinding and polishing mirrors.  All of the hardware, bolts and Allen heads on these telescopes and mounts are SAE, not metric, which goes back to days past.

Astronomy Magazine tested a 10-inch DS-10A (The 10A was an updated version with a 2-inch focuser, setting circles, and RA drive) with the magazine giving the test mirror a rating of a B+.  

So, in February 1992, I purchased the 10-inch from Pauli’s Wholesale Optics, in Danbury Connecticut. It was Fred (the owner of Pauli’s) that recommended this telescope. It was a good decision as I have been successful in making more than 1,500 deep-sky pencil sketches and thousands of observing notes.

The low pedestal mount is ideal for use with an astro-chair, when making observing notes and pencil sketches at the eyepiece. As for me, it’s impossible to observe and sketch while standing.

The new owner of this fabulous telescope which served me well for 34 years. I spent over 2,000 hours under a night sky and thousands of pencil sketches of deep-sky objects, and the scope is still in pristine condition. The telescope was always stored inside and in a padded zip-up bag.

It was a sad day, but a happy day as the “perfect amateur” came to take this scope. I’m sure it will allow him at least 34 years of deep-sky observing also.

The first night out (Friday February 13th 2026) the new owner has already imaged the Orion Nebula, Jupiter and other deep-sky objects. This is actually an imaging telescope, with the mirror moved up for full illumination, and with an RA drive, which I never used. An extender tube is required for visual observing.

The new owner is a professional high-speed video camera expert for industrial applications and also an experienced amateur astronomer.

Yes….the very first images and on the very first night out! I’d say pretty impressive!

Orion Nebula:

Jupiter

M42 (with night vision) I’d like to encourage more people to get into Night Vision Astro.

Galaxy M82

Double Cluster

M1 the Crab Nebula

I first found out about the Virgo cluster (nine-galaxies all in a 1º FoV) from Tom Lorenzin, author of “1000+ The Amateur Astronomer’s Field Guide to Deep-Sky Observing” on the evening of the Vernal Equinox 1994. 

Tom asked me if I’d ever viewed all nine galaxies within a 1° field of view, when centered on M86. I had not, but was most anxious to give it a try. However, It would be years later, on the night of March 16th 1999, before I was able to observe the galaxy group.

With my 10-inch f/4.5 reflector using a 20mm UO Erfle eyepiece for a magnification of 57x and a 1.1º true field. However, I could not see three of the fainter galaxies at this magnification.

So, I was able to sketch six of the galaxies, then increased to 160x using the 20mm EP and a 2.8x Barlow and spotted the fainter ones. I then sketched the three faint galaxies in their appropriate positions and tried my best to draw them to scale.  Very faint galaxies “most often” require greater magnification, especially if they have a brighter surface brightness and well concentrated.  

My notes are as follows from March 16th 1999

M84: Bright, with a brighter more concentrated middle, and a mostly round shape.

M86: Bright, brighter middle, round, very similar to M84 but not as well concentrated.

NGC 4387: A very faint mostly round blur. Difficult at best requiring averted vision.

NGC 4388: Low surface brightness, elongated slash with an E-W orientation.

NGC 4402: Very faint slash, low surface brightness.

NGC 4413: Very faint and dim, small, very diffuse with little concentration, mostly round.

NGC 4425: Very faint, elongated, axis NS, small and dim.

NGC 4435: Fairly bright, mostly round, stellar nucleus, smaller than NGC 4438.

NGC 4438: Bright, elongated, with a brighter middle.

For the past year or more, my Celestron CGE-Pro mount was seemingly having a difficult time centering selected deep-sky objects. The motors also did not sound good at times when moving to the selected objects. I also had to perform a factory reset on the settings every few months.

Rather than updating the firm ware for a 15 year “maybe older” hand controller, my son Brad, surprised me with a new Celestron NexStar+. However, I was concerned if it would be compatible with the older mount, but I’m happy to say…it worked perfectly!

I first updated all my site settings using the new hand controller, which is an easy task using my iPhone compass feature for the time, latitude, and longitude. There are other settings such as DST or Standard, and a few others.

Last night, and with a bright moon, I wanted to verify the mount and hand controller in all functions. I began the sequence of the mount start-up. Then the three-star alignment, which after the first star, were all centered in the telescope field-of-view.

The first thing I noticed was the two motors sounded much smoother. I was actually getting concerned the motors might be having problems. I’d read in an article a jerky motion or sound of the motors was a sign that a motor might be going bad. So, I was now feeling really good, but how would the GoTo function perform when locating deep-sky objects?

My first object was the Andromeda galaxy, and with the sound of both motors, and going in different directions, I anxiously waited for it to stop. I then looked into the eyepiece and the galaxy was perfectly centered! The next object would be planetary nebula M57, far to the west from Andromeda, which would make for a great test. The planetary…like Andromeda was “perfectly centered” in the eyepiece. I then selected about 15 other deep-sky objects, including a few double stars. Everything worked perfectly. I was excited to say the least!

I’m so appreciative to Brad for my new hand controller. Despite not ever using the mount, he always seemed to know much more than me, and all the way from the west coast. 🙂 Electronics and electrical stuff are his thing and occupation...not mine for sure.

The CGE-Pro mount has bronze gears and was the most heavy-duty mount ever sold by Celestron, with a 90 pound payload.

The mount works well with a 6-inch Newtonian also as following:

After removing the mirror, take a sheet of notebook paper, lay on the mirror and trace around the outer perimeter. The following is a 4.5-inch mirror which I center-marked earlier this year.

Fold the circle template in half, then quarter and then make a tiny hole in the center with any small sharp object. Now take a black Sharpie and “lightly dot” the center of the mirror, via the tiny hole. Now you are ready to replace the mirror and begin collimation. I’m not going to discuss collimation in this post, but have provided the following link from “High Point Scientific”…which is excellent.

A collimation tool will be needed: I use a homemade machined collimating tool (see below) which works great. However, consider a Cheshire collimating eyepiece which is not very expensive at all. I have a Cheshire eyepiece, but most often find myself using only my homemade tool. A laser collimator is not necessary.

https://www.highpointscientific.com/astronomy-hub/post/equipment-reviews/cheshire-collimating-eyepiece-guide

A couple photos of my Cheshire eyepiece as following which I also use on occasion:

While the mirror is out, it’s the perfect time to check if cleaning is needed.

The following procedure has allowed me to clean telescope mirrors with excellent results.  It should, however, be noted that your results may vary.  And mirrors coatings are very delicate, so be careful and use good common sense and care.  

https://rogerivester.com/category/how-to-clean-a-telescope-mirror

When riding a bicycle it’s much easier to see things that are unseen when driving a car or truck. The following are three very old bridges in Cleveland County that “for sure” have a story, however, few living today would likely know that story. Two are in Lattimore, and one just north of Shelby on North Lafayette Street.

The following bridge is just north of Shelby on North Lafayette Street, and only feet from the current highway. Three photos of this bridge as following.

Two other views of the N Lafayette bridge:

North Lafayette bridge:

Two bridges as following…less than a mile from Lattimore. The first bridge pictured below:

The second Lattimore bridge.

Latitude: +35º 15′ Time: 9:00 PM

Time: 9:12 PM

Time: 9:13 PM

Time: 9:14 PM

I was surprised to get a phone call at about at 9:45 last night (November 13th) from a long-time friend and amateur, Don Books. He told me that he was seeing some color from his home in South Carolina. I jumped out of bed, got dressed and ran outside, but visually couldn’t see anything from my suburban backyard. However, with a 3-second exposure, again from my iPhone 14, and some color began to appear. It was nothing like the previous but an aurora display none the less. I’m glad Don called, and I share three of those photos as following:

Time 9:56 PM:

Time: 9:57 PM

Time: 10:00 PM and the aurora was already beginning to fade: