Rich,

Do you still have any of those polaroid photos? It would be very interesting to see one posted. Sounds like you had a really advanced telescope especially for those days. A 6 inch scope was way beyond my ability to make or buy. I was very envious of a highschool friend who got a 4.5 inch Newtonian as a present from his parents. We were constantly comparing views from my 60 mm achromatic refractor with his 4.5 inch Newtonian. I always found objects faster, but they always looked better in his scope. But... I remember that another friend's Dad (an engineer) found a WWII vintage German aerial gun camera lens in a flea market. It had a six inch aperture and was an achromat. They built a telescope around it and I have never seen more detail on the moon in any other telescope before or since.... it was absolutely amazing. I'm just guessing now, but judging from what I remember of the tube length, it was probably about F7 or so. It did have some false color fringing around bright objects, but that didn't bother me at all. Imagine the effect of lunar detail visible with a scope like that in the 1970s on someone who had spent hours and hours peering through a 60 mm refractor

A little nostalgia is good... gives us some perspective.

Rick