The Light Cup Journals

The Light Cup Journals

                 "As we tally more and more memorable hours under the night sky, the
                  sensation is cumulative. It makes no difference whether we observe
                  with the naked eye, a 4-inch telescope, or a 36-inch Dobsonian"
                                                                                                                                      Walter Scott Houston,
                                                                                                                                         Sky and Telescope, July 1993

You have stumbled onto the delicious Cloudy Nights journalistic column containing the wild astronomical adventures
of my 4-inch tall TeleVue-102 apochromatic refractor (102mm f/8.6), christened the "The Light Cup". I was
inspired by the book The Messier Objects by Stephen James O'Meara who observed the Messier object through
his 4-inch Tele Vue Genesis SDF refractor. I was also inspired by the Deep Sky Wonders, a monthly column
written by Sue French in Sky & Telescope magazine where she uses her Astro-Physics Traveller, a 105mm f/6 APO
refractor, to publish her monthly column on DSO observations. Later, I was inspired by another great observer,
Walter Scott Houston, who often used his 4-inch Clark refractor in his book the Deep-Sky Wonders and John
Mallas with his 4-inch Unitron refractor in his book, the Messier Album, and Shelburne Burnham who started out
with his 5-inch refractor .

Small telescopes can give fine view of the solar systems as well (4-inch instrument is the minimum aperture
recommended by the ALPO for serious study). Planetary observers such as Beer & Mädler (3-¾-inch refractor),
Gorton (3.125 inch refractor), Maynard (4½-inch refractor), Steavenson (3-inch refractor), Chauleur (4½-inch
refractor), Escalente (4.3 inch refractor) and in modern times Phil Bundine (90mm Questar) and Richard Baum
(4½-inch refractor), have all made important contributions. The well-regarded author Charles Wood of the monthly
S&T Exploring the Moon column carried out lunar research with a 4.3" Clark refractor and still extensively uses a
5-inch telescope today! Even the legendary observers started out with small aperture, with E. E. Barnard using a
5-inch refractor and E. M. Antoniadi 3-inch and later 4½-inch Mailhut refractor !

In July 2005, in my quest to find the one-size-fit-all panacea telescope , a genetically matched big brother to my
TV-102 Light Cup has been discovered and adopted, a 5-inch tall Tele Vue NP127 apochromatic refractor (127mm
f/5.2) who is christened the "Light Cup [Sr.]" .

There are many, many objects that are palatable to the small telescopes such as The Light Cup. We invite you to
sample some (if not all) of the connoisseurs. The closest and filling meals lies in our own solar system. The planets,
comets, asteroids, the Moon and on occasions our own star. So please meander over to try out the solar system's
Bright Wars journal. When the Moon or the solar system objects are nowhere in sight, it's time to reach out deep
into the mysterious black void. Try these deep dish deep sky Light Wars novel and do sample some of the palatable
DSOs on the Fantastic x List. But why fret when the Moon is up and why not enjoy our closest neighbor, a macro
"DSOs" in its own independent rights. After a filling and salty meal, please try these sweet Light Cup Desserts.

The 4-inch Tall Evangelist B[ee]