
A Quick Review of the 28” Reginato Super Maser
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A Quick Review of the 28” Reginato Super Maser
by Piero Emanuele Mazza (CN member il_galassiere)
It was since year 2020, by then in my sixties, that I conceived the idea to buy a very serious and powerful instrument for my long-standing visual observations. The choice fell on a Reginato Super Maser 28-inch Newtonian telescope with standard alt-azimuthal fork mount.
Hereafter are the seven more significant values of my choice:
1) the Super Maser is easily transportable in my combi ID Buzz car (to put the lower 220-pound wheeled part in the trunk I use a couple of extendable aluminum ramps);
2) the eight-bar truss linking the upper ring sport innovative quick-coupling joints;
3) the whole telescope is vibration-free even in case of moderate wind, not unusual during most of the observing nights; the movement is very smooth on both the axes due to well-designed bearings;
4) the instrument is equipped with both a laser, for quick pointing, and a generous 16x80 finder-scope for easily catching all the faintest stars plotted in Uranometria charts;
5) in spite of the awful state of the last 8-9 km road to reach the 4800-ft site for my observations, the telescope's optics remains perfectly aligned (no joking!). So far no fine tuning of the mirrors through a laser collimator was needed;
6) even on irregular ground the telescope remains stable (no unwanted rotation, nor backlash)
7) the 3.3 fast-ratio focal of primary mirror avoids the need to mount the last step of my foldable ladder, so preventing a possible accidental, dangerous fall on the pebbly ground.
Thank you, Silvano, for your wondrous artwork!
Some pictures for the reader's pleasure:
1) a generous 28-inch F/3.3 primary mirror;
2) large 16x80 finder with illuminated reticle;
3) a laser pointer temporarily wrapped in a resistor (dew heater) during very cold nights;
4) rack-and-pinion focuser;’
5) a handle for easily moving the scope both in azimuth and height;
6) lock (in red) of the azimuth movement (during transport) and a little fly-wheel for major friction;
7) three heavy counterweights on the scope's breech for perfect balance;
8) a set of eight little struts for wrapping the dewcap.
- scottinash, Alterf, miketz and 23 others like this
19 Comments
Looks fantastic! No encoders? Where do you observe in Italy? LP map shows that the whole of the north is fairly light-polluted.
What a wonderful thing! Thanks for sharing.
Wow, this looks like a joy to use for many happy years!
Any kind of imaging done through this? if so, any images to share?
That's a wonderful instrument !
I don't know what I'm more jealous of : the telescope or those wonderful mountain blue skies !
Congratulations !
Corker of a telescope
! WoW !
I think Reginato's scopes are the bees knees. How high is the eyepiece approximately? I'm 1m90 and suspect I cannot view through the 24" or the 28" SuperMaser without a step, so that would lead me to the 20". Not bad, but still, bigger is better.
Oh WOW! That is a stunner of a scope! Really love the detail and very thorough engineering ideas. Thank you for sharing.
Man, that is sooooooo cool!!
Outstanding craftsmanship! You are a very lucky to have it!
I'm more impressed by the car! VW is bringing the electric van here for the 2025 model year, but only the larger, longer version - this looks like the smaller one I think?
I can fit my big scope in my current car but not much else.
What kind of cloth do you use on it. I use a two sided lint free cotton cloth, with one side softer than the other but they need washing often.
Anna@Boha
Yes, where do you observe in Italy?
Sick stuff... and an enviable observing site...
Thanks for sharing!
What catches my eye is the van!
What is the body of the scope made of? Awesome telescope!!
If that was mine I think I would spend more time looking at the scope than I would looking through the scope