I first started looking through a telescope in 2009. It was a simple 130mm Reflecting telescope. I took my first pictures of the Moon using my phone through the eyepiece!

Then I upgraded my mount (the tripod that holds the telescope) and then bought a second hand 200mm telescope tube about 10 years ago. Images started to get much better. I invested in a cheap camera that could take images of the planets and early photos were poor but they got better. It takes practice and time!

Many years later, with a much better camera, lots of computer software and time, I managed to take pretty reasonable images of the planets.

Then in 2023 I bought one of the new “Smart” Telescopes which are much quicker, easier to setup and use. The one I chose was the DWARF II. It has already produced some astounding images from such a small telescope!

I have even used my phone to take some night sky images as it has an astro mode.

I have many other hobbies; one is riding motorbikes and restoring classic bikes. I rebuilt from ground up an old Honda 750 four cylinder engine from the 1970s. I was able to get it running last year!

You can see the build in detail here;

https://varoom.wordpress.com/honda-cb750-engine-strip-and-rebuild/