AaronM
super member
Reged: 02/02/06
Posts: 340
Loc: NRW, Germany
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Hello friends,
as posted before, I had the chance to get the white elephant Tasco 16T ! And now : here it is ! ( First garage shots ). This 16T is a very heavy and solid beast, with a marvelous mount and a sturdy and fine made wooden tripod.
Its a 153/1310mm catadioptric system.But don't be shocked : this vintage catadioptric system is of very fine quality !! No comparision with the "modern", cheap Catadioptrics from today ! Its a parabolic mirror, polished with 1/8 wavefront length. The same scope was sold by Mizar as their model CX-150 in the late seventees and early eighties. Sadly the original 15x40 guide scope is lost in the years. The pre-owner added a nice 8x50 finder. The "big" guide scope is not original too. It's a 70/700 mm FH. The rest is all original, even the wooden storage cabinets for scope and mount are present. The hole setup is in very fine condition, only the wooden cabinets and the tripod needs a little refurbishing here and there. There were added a few addons : Eye-pieces from Tasco/Vixen ( circle "V" )K40, K 17,5 , Or 12,5, a 2x barlow, a Tasco panhead camera mount,etc.
The pre-owner bought it around 7 years ago from an old woman ( it was the scope from her husband,and after his death the scope was storaged a few years in a garage and has not seen the stars for years ). The pre-owner told me, that the optics are really fantastic. He had compare the Tasco 16T with his TAL-2M and found the Tasco better on planets !!
Now I will do a little refurbishing the next days and weeks ( but it's not many to do ) and then I will post nicger photos of the setup, if you like.
For me it's a very nice find and I'm very happy with this heavy dinosaur !!
CS Michael
Edited by AaronM (06/24/09 12:13 AM)
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AaronM
super member
Reged: 02/02/06
Posts: 340
Loc: NRW, Germany
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..here are the wooden cabinets :
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Steve_M_M
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 06/09/04
Posts: 976
Loc: Moorpark, CA
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Michael,
Very Nice!
Check out my post on your other thread for a bit more info. I am curious about the optical design.
Steve
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1956 Goto Optical 6" f15 Observatory Refractor
From the Titan Observatory as featured in S&T 1957-1959
&
1961 Nishimura 6" Reflector
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Happy-Idiot
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 04/06/06
Posts: 2802
Loc: 3rd Rock
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WOW! Very nice, i never heard of one before but it looks like a high quality build. Good luck with it.
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Brian
A small scope that gets used often is a better investment than a big scope that stays in the closet.
Unitrons, you spend more time looking at them than you do through them.
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JamesE
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 10/22/07
Posts: 1112
Loc: Westbank, BC, Canada
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Fabulous find Michael,
Can you take close up pics. Especially of the mount. AWESOME. I saw some pics from Galakumas site and thought only in Japan would I see one. That is great congrats.
James
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James
(Thanks to Attilla for the Clear Sky charts)
Current Projects : Tasco 15TEA - 3 inch pier mounted planetary scope
Priorities : Wife, Kids
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desertrefugee
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 08/06/07
Posts: 1215
Loc: Arizona
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Outstanding!
As I said in your "warning" post, that's the first one I've seen here. As can be seen from the catalog Steve linked (and which is available from Robert Provin's fine web site), this was one of Tasco's "expensive" instruments.
Now we can see why. That mount alone is a marvelous discovery. The entire kit (even though not completely original) is a dream find. There couldn't have been too many of those beauties sold. I am envious - and don't tell anyone, but I have a soft spot for old reflectors - I just can't afford them.
Congratulations, Michael, on a wonderful acquisition - and thanks for shaking up the establishment here - just a little bit!
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"Illimitable ocean, without bound, Without dimension, where length, breadth, and height, And time, and place are lost." - Milton
-Darrell
Reflectors - 76 to 305mm (f4.7 to f9.2)
Refractors - 50 to 120mm (f5 to f16.7)
Binoculars - 6x15 to 22x100
N. Phoenix, AZ
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woodsman
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 03/12/08
Posts: 1072
Loc: Colorado Springs, CO
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Wow, that is fantastic. Never heard of one. Looks like a solid heavy mount too. Congratulations. Rich
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artisticwoods
C-14 Orange Tube, C-8, C-5, C-90 Astro Model, C8 Schmidt Camera 8" f1.5, C5.5 Schmidt Camera f1.65, SPI 42mm f/19 Refractor, Sears 90mm f/15.56 Ref, Sears 80mm f/15 Ref, Swift 77mm f/13 Model 831, Scope 60mm f/11.7, Sears 50mm f/12
Unitron Model 140 75mm/1200mm, Unitron model 128 60mm/900mm
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AaronM
super member
Reged: 02/02/06
Posts: 340
Loc: NRW, Germany
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Thanks to you all for your nice words !
Well, if I have time I will make more detailed and better photos. This was just a quick shot yesterday evening after "wrapping it out". You can see a wonderfull photo of the Mizar CX-150 ( it's the same scope like the Tasco 16T ) on this site :
http://images.google.de/imgres?imgurl=http://img.blogs.yahoo.co.jp/ybi/1/f7/77/solunarneo/folder/1166371/img_1166371_27173263_0%3F1242567270&imgrefurl=http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/solunarneo/27173263.html&usg=__9brA7_YS1SK8pSzeW6EaPO0bZi0=&h=1128&w=800&sz=213&hl=de&start=43&um=1&tbnid=IvsSb2q1VHwPXM:&tbnh=150&tbnw=106&prev=/images%3Fq%3DMizar%2BCX-150%26ndsp%3D20%26hl%3Dde%26sa%3DN%26start%3D40%26um%3D1
The optical design is a little bit unusual to common catadiopters. The corrector/barlow lens is placed in front of the little secondary-mirror and NOT in the OAZ.
I have such a mount before ( see my older postings about the Lichtenknecker on Mizar mount ). It's a giant, heavy mount with 180 teeth in RA. On the original parts of this scope you can not find a plastic part ( beside the caps ), it's all metal and wood. The mount feels so strong that I have the feeling, I could a add 2 16T on it !! 
This setup was a high-price scope in 1978.
The first owner had paied around 2900 DM for it in 1978 !!
( maybe 1400 $ in 1978 or so..). And I thought, this was very much money in 1978 for a normal worker !!!
I will keep you informed - see you later !
Michael
and as mentioned before :
You can find the original catalog on Robert Provines fantastic site here :
http://geogdata.csun.edu/~voltaire/classics/tasco/tascotel.pdf
There is a nice picture from the 16T
Edited by AaronM (06/24/09 01:36 AM)
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AaronM
super member
Reged: 02/02/06
Posts: 340
Loc: NRW, Germany
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..I just found my older post about the Mizar mount I had before...
http://www.cloudynights.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=classics&Number=2368936&Forum=,,,All_Forums,,,&Words=&Searchpage=2&Limit=25&Main=2368936&Search=true&where=&Name=14933&daterange=&newerval=&newertype=&olderval=&oldertype=&bodyprev=#Post2368936
In the same thread, you can find photos attached by Galakuma
from his Mizar CX-150 !!
Michael
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rmollise
Post Laureate
Reged: 07/06/07
Posts: 4564
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Quote:
Hello friends,
as posted before, I had the chance to get the white elephant Tasco 16T ! And now : here it is ! ( First garage shots ). This 16T is a very heavy and solid beast, with a marvelous mount and a sturdy and fine made wooden tripod.
Its a 153/1310mm catadioptric system.But don't be shocked : this vintage catadioptric system is of very fine quality !! No comparision with the "modern", cheap Catadioptrics from today ! Its a parabolic mirror,
What's the design? Stictly speaking, CATs do not have parabolic mirrors. They have spherical mirrors, with the lens part of the CAT equation being a corrector to counteract the normal spherical aberration. Sure, you can add a built-in Barlow to any scope to extend its focal length, but in my book that does not a CAT make. 
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Uncle Rod
Rod's New Book:
Choosing and Using a New CAT
Available now!
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AaronM
super member
Reged: 02/02/06
Posts: 340
Loc: NRW, Germany
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Well Rod....see my posting before - the barlow element is placed in front of the secondary mirror. I will not take the scope apart to see it exact. But the information is from the original 1978 Tasco cataloug.
Kind regards Michael
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Steve_M_M
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 06/09/04
Posts: 976
Loc: Moorpark, CA
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Same as 8v then?...newtonian with barlow
The picture shows the 8v secondary outside of its housing. The housing has a barlow/corrector in front of it.
--------------------
1956 Goto Optical 6" f15 Observatory Refractor
From the Titan Observatory as featured in S&T 1957-1959
&
1961 Nishimura 6" Reflector
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AaronM
super member
Reged: 02/02/06
Posts: 340
Loc: NRW, Germany
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Hello Steve,
seems to be similar, but the 16T has no glass-plate, but an open tube.
Well..if the weather is fine this afternoon, I will put the scope in the garden and will make a few more photos !
If my english was only better, I would write a "review" about my 16T with many photos, but I think, to read it would be a torture for you all ! 
From a german friend I got a few more infos about this scope .
About the Tasco 16T he wrote me the following :
" I saw this telescope 1978 in an optic-shop in Köln ( cologne ). It was equipped with a motor drive and it costs 4500 (!!!) DM ( 2200 $...).
I was 12 years old and it was a dream scope for me, but my parents can't afford such a high price telescope in these years. My father was a factory-worker and earned around 1500 DM in a month, so he had to work 3 months to afford this scope ! "
It seems to be that there was a wide price-range !!
The basic-configuration ( wooden tripod, scope, mount, 15x40 finder ) was around 2800 DM ( 1400 $ ?? ), the bigger setup with motor drive and bigger guide-scope and maybe a metal pier ( ?) was around 4500-4800 DM (2200 - 2400 $ ?? )!!
But it's difficult to become exact price-infos from these years !! Maybe some people remember wrong !?
And : in general telescopes in germany are much more expensive than in the USA all the times!
Kind regards, Michael
Edited by AaronM (06/27/09 12:43 PM)
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scopelover
member
Reged: 02/02/08
Posts: 77
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Michael,
Your writing and command of the English language is superior to most Americans! .. Fear not, we'd love to read your review!!
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Astrojensen
sage
Reged: 10/05/08
Posts: 219
Loc: Bornholm, Denmark
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Thomas, Denmark
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DAVIDG
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 12/02/04
Posts: 1985
Loc: Hockessin, De
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The optical design is most likely a Bird-Jones which uses a spherical mirror and the barlow like corrector lens to correct for spherical abberation and increase the focal length.
- Dave
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Homemade 'scopes 8"f/7,6" f/5", 6"f/4, 4.25" Schief. 60mm Coronagraph,60mm H-alpha system, 4.25" White-light Solar Newtonian,solar spectroscope, 4.5" f/16 Schupmann Medial refractor, 14 Stellafane awards 7 in optics
Engineering = Taking what you have and making what you need.
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ukcanuck
Vendor (Skylight Telescopes)
Reged: 11/07/06
Posts: 738
Loc: London, UK
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Hey Michael, I'd love to see more pictures of this...
The opportunity to show something really unique & different is what I really like about this forum. In the year or two I've been around CN, I've not seen this scope, so I think that deserves some more detail!
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Richard
A few nice telescopes.
...but most importantly, a beautiful son who fills my days with sunshine, and my nights with stars.
THE SKYLIGHT F15
Skylight Gallery
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JWW
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 12/12/05
Posts: 1107
Loc: Arizona or Mexico hard to tell
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Boing ...
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rmollise
Post Laureate
Reged: 07/06/07
Posts: 4564
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Quote:
The optical design is most likely a Bird-Jones which uses a spherical mirror and the barlow like corrector lens to correct for spherical abberation and increase the focal length.
- Dave
That would be my guess.
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Uncle Rod
Rod's New Book:
Choosing and Using a New CAT
Available now!
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galakuma
super member
Reged: 05/19/07
Posts: 167
Loc: Japan
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I like CX-150.
When I was a university student, I'd used the telescope,CX-150.
The optical system for the telescope is very wonderful.
At that time, the good quality one was few in a small Cassegrain reflecter, Schmidt Cassegrain.
It was good overwhelmingly compared with them.
It was good in a small mirror because there was a lens just before the secondary mirror .
It is mysterious why the system disappeared.
It comes do not to have to use the stepladder even by 20 inches if the CX-150 system can be applied to Dob.
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