Hey everyone—Dan Higgins here, proud owner of AstroWorld Telescopes and lifelong sufferer of a completely incurable stargazing obsession. Like many of you, it all started with that one magical moment. Yeah, it sounds cliché—but it’s 100% true.
🔭 The Saturn Moment That Started It All
This is unfortunately not the same telescope but, my uncle said it was almost the same one we used.
I was about 7 years old, give or take, hanging out with my Uncle Charlie somewhere in Hicksville, NY. Honestly, I couldn’t tell you where—Bortle 8 skies, streetlights brighter than the Sun—but what I do remember is him shouting:
“I finally found it!”
I ran over, peeked through an old-school Meade telescope (yes, one of the classic Made-in-California ones), and BAM—there it was: Saturn. Rings and all.
That was it. I was hooked. Game over.
📦 The Telescope That Lived in My Closet
Years later, I saved up for my first “real” telescope: the Celestron Classic 8. The box said it had a built-in star tracker. My brain translated that as “Cool, GoTo system!”
Spoiler alert: It was not a GoTo. And I lived just 17 miles outside NYC in deep light pollution.
I tried for weeks to find anything besides the Moon. Nada. Zilch. Eventually, I did what many future astrophotographers probably did—I shoved it in the closet and dreamed of darker skies.
The Meade lx200gps getting ready in 2006
🚂 The LIRR Incident: Telescopes and Train Drama
In the early '90s, I bought the legendary Meade LX200GPS 8” from a hobby shop in Manhattan. Problem? No car. Solution? I dragged my buddy Charlie (aka Cosmic Charlie) and we hopped on the LIRR.
Picture this: 22-year-old me, lugging a giant telescope box through the train. Then BOOM—I accidentally clocked a poor lady in the head. Charlie’s in tears laughing. Me? Mortified. The scope made it home. The lady survived. And for the first time, the stars felt close enough to touch.
🌠 Finding My Astronomy Family
The Wedding (From Left to Right Jen, Jen’s Mom Bill(RIP), Dan(Me) and Dan’s Mom)
After a bad first experience with a local club (no names, but it’s long gone), I found my people at the Amateur Observers Society of New York (AOSNY). They welcomed me like family.
I made lifelong friends—one even officiated my wedding to Jen. (RIP Bill—you’re still missed, buddy.)
One night in 2003, while up in the Catskills, the Northeast went dark—massive blackout. No power for hundreds of miles. But I had my Meade 8", clear skies, and a cosmic playground:
- M13 sparkled like a box of diamonds
- M27 glowed like a ghost
- M51? You could tell it wasn’t just a fingerprint on the eyepiece
That night I thought: “Wouldn’t it be amazing to capture this?”
A photo of my first digital astrocam the SAC 7
📷 From Film Frustration to Digital Delight
I tried astrophotography with a Pentax K1000 and a Minolta—yeah, film cameras. It was rough.
In 2004, I bought the SAC7b CCD camera—640x480 resolution, mystery specs, but it worked! My real breakthrough came with the Canon Rebel XT in 2006. Finally, real images: Dumbbell, Orion, M3, M57—you name it.
🚀 Enter: The Age of Astro Tech
By 2019, astrophotography had exploded. The ASIAIR changed everything. Guiding, polar alignment, cable management—done in one little red box.
But me? I went rogue—Sequence Generator Pro, then NINA. Why? Because I like pain and flexibility. (No shade—ZWO makes great stuff. Just not for everyone!)
My newest rig :the AstroPhysics 130GT and friends
🎥 From YouTube to Telescopes
✨ Why This Story Matters
This isn’t just nostalgia. It’s a reminder that everyone starts somewhere. Whether you’re fighting city lights, getting smacked with telescope boxes, or just learning the stars—we’ve all been there.
Thanks for joining me on this wild ride. There’s so much more to come.
Keep imaging. Keep educating. And always—Clear Skies!
—Dan Higgins
