Issue 630: Curing Charity Redux + Chalk Up Another Space Summer

How’s one of my favorite telescopes of all time, Charity Hope Valentine, my ETX125 PE Maksutov Cassegrain, doing? Muchachos, the reason you haven’t heard much about her in long while is because the answer to that has been, “Not good, not good at all.” For all practical purposes my long-time companion was dead. I’d tried to take good care of her…but… Charity, you see, is no spring chicken; she is going on 21 years old. She’s had a good life for a small (5-inch) telescope, I think. I know your old Uncle and his slightly neurotic ETX girlfriend have enjoyed countless astronomical adventures. This one and this one being but two examples of many. Alas, time takes its toll on us all… I tried to take good care of Missy, but things began to fail. First came her Autostar’s keyboard. I put that right, however, and she was fine for years. Her true decline began with the hand control’s coiled cable giving up the ghost followed swiftly by other minor parts and pieces—the power cord, tripod…