http://www.skyandtelescope.com.au 59

&

My

the telescope

I

’vebeenanactiveamateurastronomer

and astrophotographer in one form

oranotherforover35yearsnow.In

myearlydays,asateenagerwithout

adriver’slicence,itwasmydearold

dad, Domenico Sidonio, who used to

drivemetothemonthlymeetingsof

theAstronomicalSocietyoftheHunter

in Newcastle. My father, a former

ItalianprisonerofwaroftheGermans

inWorldWarII,neverletmemissa

meeting. He would work hard all day

asaboilermakerattheBHPsteelworks,

then,withoutfail,onthatThursday

ofeverymonth,hewouldfaithfully

drivemetomymeetings...

sometimes sleeping in the

carashewaited,sometimes

coming in to sit and listen to

the guest speaker.

At one stage in those early

days,Iwasthelibrarian

fortheclub,andasaresult

Iwasoftenrequiredto

stay back at the end of the

meetingstoletpeoplereturn

andborrowbooks.Tohiscreditand

regardlessofhisfatigue,myfather

never complained; he waited patiently

forthenighttoendandwoulddrive

me home, often exhausted, and we

would share banter about the evening.

Theycertainlywerememorablefather-

sontimes.Unfortunately,inJanuary

2016,myfatherpassedawayatthe

ageof92—agoodinningsasthey

say—andthoseThursdaynightsare

nowthefondestmemoriesIhaveof

my childhood with him. I will cherish

them for ever.

Asisoftenthecasewhenaparent

dies,youhavethebittersweetironyof

receiving some inheritance, and in the

caseofmydaditwasamodestamount.

But after some deliberation and with

theblessingofmywifeandinhonour

of my father’s support all those years

ago,Idecidetoinvestsome

ofitintothepurchaseofa

new telescope to enable me to

takewide-fieldimagesofthe

nightsky—afittingtribute

toalifeheldsodear.Thus

myownershipofaTakahashi

FSQ-106EDX4 was born.

Afterfouryearsof

imaging small targets with

high-resolution, deep sky

equipment(comprisinga30-cmf/3.8

correctedNewtonian),Ihadsome

trepidationastohoweasilyIwould

A father’s love for his son has found new expression

in images of the southern sky.

The combined power of the
Takahashi FSQ-106EDX4
telescope, FLI Proline 16803
camera and Astronomik
filters produced this
amazing image of the Large
Magellanic Cloud galaxy.

dad

S The author’s father posing proudly with his

Australian citizenship papers.