After retirement, I was in pursuit of new hobbies.  I always thought that it would be interesting to purchase a good high quality telescope.  While visiting relatives in Chico, California, I stopped by a telescope retailer called Star Safaris and met the owner who introduced me to the world of telescopes.  He also invited me to attend a star party that night at the Chico Observatory.  After participating in the star party I decided to purchase a telescope.  I opted for a Celestron Nexstar 5 Newtonian telescope which I purchased from the retailer at Star Safaris.  I knew that my purchase was not going be real usable in Riverside because of the poor  viewing conditions (Read: smog and haze).  But, I figured I would take the scope with me when we traveled to areas of the country where the skies offer better viewing conditions.

The scope presents some challenge to get it sighted in for the "Go To" feature to operate usefully.  Once the scope "finds itself", it works very well.   I have used it to examine the rings of Saturn including several of Saturn's moons.  I also have viewed several different star clusters, nebulae, the Moon,  and several planets.  I have attempted to do solar observations with a home made solar filter but as of yet I have not been successful at getting the scope pointed at the sun.  I still have much to learn in using the scope.