OK, astronomy back on for this year

I found out a week or so ago that you can buy just the tripod and computer base for the NexStar series without the optical assembly for $450 shipped. So I've been keeping an eye on the used market for optical tubes. Last night a very good looking 8" optical tube with the 2" diagonal that was on my "must buy" list anyway (and costs $125 alone) came up for $400 shipped. I do need to buy a dovetail bracket to mate the two together, so all together the scope, mount and bracket will be in the $910 range, but since these normally go for $1200 (and that's a historic low, 2 years ago they were selling for $1550 or so) plus $125 for the diagonal, I decided to go for it, given the $400 savings.

I'll probably hold off on getting the tripod and base for a little while, but I'll probably have the whole thing active by mid-spring.