Wednesday, October 17, 2018

Notes from a Dependent Brat: That Tasco

It was dark, and it was getting cooler. Glen and I wore our light jackets but no doubt the falling air temperature initiated our shut-down procedure for the night. In the early/mid 1970s CFB Borden was a great place for peering into the heavens. Light pollution was almost non-existent; stars and planets waited for my two-inch Tasco telescope.

That refractive lens system apparatus served me well all those years ago. My parents bought it for me in 1970 at the CFB Baden-Soellingen PX ("Post Exchange") in then West Germany for $25.00. Now I can say that that now $164.00 was money well parted with -- the Tasco did not stay in the closet. It even came with a "Sun" filter, for, you guessed it, looking at the sun. One memory I have is of standing behind the celestial device on our apartment balcony in Iffezheim observing our star.

I noticed a star burning bright high up on the horizon. (Bearing: North by North West.) Before collapsing the telescope's tripod legs, I wanted to check out that light. Glen stood nearby doing something now lost to time as I aligned and refined.

"It's Saturn!"

My observatory pal volunteered to confirm my findings. "Far out!"

Yes it was.


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