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This is one of the first galaxies I ever observed with my own telescope, a Crown 6" Newtonian reflector on a German equatorial mount. The tube was white fiberglas with crinkle-black tube rings holding it onto the heavy-duty mount, also crinkle-black with polished steel rods. I bought this fine instrument with dish-washing and maintenance-engineer money when I was, oh, 15 or so. I added a big guide-scope for long-exposure photos that I took with my Minolta XRT210 (I still have it).
This makes me smile to remember.
Wow,
Chris