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Musings on a $50 Fathers Day Astronomy Present
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Musings on a $50 Fathers Day Astronomy Present.
Hi, my name is Tony, I have been into astronomy from a very early age. Currently located in Northern NY, I have been in and out of the hobby for close to 30 years. I own a variety of scopes from 20 dollar yard sale finds to large aperture cassegrains mounted semi- permanently in our backyard. I am biased toward astrophotography due to my middling eyesight. However, I still enjoy those widefield dobsonian views with my eyes.
For fathers day recently, the wife asked me what I wanted. I told her I had been looking at a $150 GSKYER long focal length refractor on an online marketplace. That was a while ago. I had recently noticed the owner had dropped the price to 50 dollars and with it being fathers day, what did I have to lose? She said yes and we scooped it up. Tonight was the first night (In a long while) that I would get a chance to see how far 50 dollars could go in astronomy fun.
Let me tell you, it was both fun and tedious. I wouldn't say this is the best beginner's scope, but what I did realize was how quickly this kind of scope could frustrate a beginner! With it being a long focal length refractor and an unsteady mount, it made it even MORE challenging. With a great deal of patience, a cell phone adapter and a little luck, I was able to get this shot of the moon using a standard smartphone. I probably could've done better but the mosquitoes were out and it was a hot and humid evening in Northern NY
The scope that took this picture was a GSKYER 80mm 900mm f11 and an Iphone 13.
Being a bit of a gearhead I noticed some interesting things. The finder that came with this scope was practically useless,
So, rummaging about, I found that my synta-shoe-based finders fit it almost perfectly. I used an old generic 30 mm Plossl that I had laying around. I threw out the diagonal provided with the setup and used a slightly better one I had lying around.
Here are some pictures of the setup that took this photo with some modifications (different diagonal,finder and eyepiece)
Lastly, I will include a couple of closeup shots to give the reader an idea of the kind of quality one might expect out of this entry level type mount which retails in the 300 dollar range on popular shopping sites.
Yes, those are plastic gears on the RA and DEC axis. Yikes!
I would do it again! For me it's more about the challenge of getting the most out of inexpensive, portable and affordable equipment.
I must say it was a fun experience and a great fathers day gift. Plus, I got three extra eyepieces to add to my collection!
It is a bit sad to think that these units are marketed to individuals as entry level scopes.
- CollinofAlabama, kenny moses, Glenilacqua and 17 others like this
14 Comments
Great writeup, Tony!
I think that you truly captured the essence of challenges new observers face when getting budget equipment. They either get a marginally mounted scope, or someone's hand-me-downs which may or may not work ideally as is.
Being a veteran observer, you know what you're doing; but point well made I think. Many folks who are new to the endeavor do not have access to someone nearby always as a "mentor"; Our club in Winnipeg (RASC) did do a lot to provide the kind of help folks needed to convert their budget scopes to very usable instruments!
It is nice folks here on CN can also provide help to many if the new entrant has some patience and willing to follow a learning curve to get to a place where they can use the instrument reliably...
Glad that you got the scope running better - it looked like a fun project - on a budget of ~$50 nonetheless!
Cheers and clear skies
Darren
Great read!
I love how you show the challenges a beginner may face, but the contrast of how an expert can easily maneuver and use one.
Take a look at the inside of the focuser drawtube. It was shiny silver on my 70/400 gsyker. I repleced it with the focuser out of an f/10 scope I found for free, it's matte black on the inside and long enough to reach focus without a diagonal for imaging. Removing that source of reflections made a huge difference in quality. Just sliding in a curled up sheet of black construction paper might give you a decent improvement if yours is shiny too.
I also replaced the finder with the red dot from the freebie scope, and on a decent mount it's a surprisingly capable instrument.
Totally agree!
I am in a similar situation, actually: during last summer vacation, we happened to have pretty dark and clear skies and the whole family loved the unplanned stargazing. Thes led them to give me a 4.5" aperture Bresser 'Oxford University' table top dobsonian as a birthday present. It cost 57 Euro, new, on Amazon. And really, apart from the terrible plastic eyepieces and barlow that were included, it seems allright. The OTA, red dot finder, focuser and mount all seem OK to me. Not the best obviously, but definitely functional. And, especially after ugrading to a -still very affordable- Svbony 20mm wide angle eyepiece, the views through it are pretty crisp. We had great fun looking at Jupiter and its four big moons, as well as Saturn and its rings.
Just finished building a DIY table top equatorial platform for it, with parts costing perhaps 30 Euros, main cost being the battery. I believe that, with some effort, I'll have a nice little dobsonian with pretty good eyepiece and motorized equatorial platform for less than 150 Euros.
I take this route in part because -to me- it's fun, but also to show my boys that you can make modest equipment work if you show a little engineering spirit!
Nice experience, glad you shared. It is fun to see what can be done with modest equipment. I renewed my interest in the hobby about 3 years ago and am amazed at what AP has become. Although I have no interest now to climb that considerable slope of learning at 75, there is plenty of enjoyment just looking at the night sky, no matter how much you spend on equipment.
3 thumbs up!
Nice to see a fellow cheapskate getting the most out of a bargain buy! I only buy used kit and have had some great fun in the backyard messing around doing astrophotography with my 2nd hand 102mm refractor on a 2nd hand SLT Goto mount and my Canon EOS camera - whole setup cost me less than $300. Got this pic last year on my setup of M13 in Hercules (cluster).
People who are innovative have been improving cars and telescopes for decades, more time even. It's a great way to spread costs as well. I remember having spent $2000 on a Takahashi refractor only to balk at paying $400 for a new finder, but eventually, one came along used. The stopped down finders provided with some entry-level refractors are a plague and should be replaced as soon as is possible. Additionally, some bad 8x50 finders actually have near- useless edge-of-field definition which necessitates replacing them, unless all you look for using a finder are planets. But having said all that, entry level refractors are inexpensive for what they offer. A $75.00 Tasco 60mm in 1973 ($500 equivalent in today's money) doesn't begin to match what can be had at that price-point today.
I had the 90mm ST model to go with my quality refractors, the views were still pretty nice. If it is entry level it was a high end entry level. But I used mine on a Porta II. For their price I wouldn't hesitate to buy another one. At low power the scope was / is the finder, on any of them.
"For me it's more about the challenge of getting the most out of inexpensive, portable and affordable equipment."
What a fun (and inexpensive way) to enjoy the hobby.
Be sure to watch Ed Ting's recent episode where he does the same with a cheap entry refractor.
And it doesn’t matter the manufacturer, they all use high quality astrophotos and make it sound like you can see a flies butt on the moon!
In my younger days I used to do the same thing with motorcycles and mini bikes. I'd fix them up, get them running and then I would donate them to kids in the neighborhood that seemed to like mechanics.
I have had a similar experience. A young friend was given two beginner telescopes, both on abused German equatorial mounts. One was a Celestron Newtonian in bad shape, and the other was a cute little Meade 80 mm refractor that has turned out to be remarkably good, optically, if only we had a good mount for it.
I managed to make one complete mount out of the two German mounts. I rigged an adapter plate so that either scope can use it. But the slop in the gearing is awful. Still, it is possible to make it sorta work, and does work better than my wife's old 1960s Sears and Roebuck junker on the Alt-Az tripod that kept drooping because the brakes don't hold.
What I use for a small field scope is a Televue Ranger, a nice little refractor rigged on a camera tripod and fixed up with an oversized Telrad heads up sight. At the moment I use it with a 1e7 ND filter for shooting sunspots. It is also a great wildlife scope. It is versatile and fun to use.
I think most beginners, taking a scope with a manual German mount out of the box, have no idea how to set it up, and will likely mangle the poor thing before they learn how it is supposed to be used. There is much to be said for a sturdy camera tripod and a simple alt-az head when dealing with beginners.
I don't even bother with finder scopes any more. I rig my scopes with a green laser, kept switched off except when zeroing in on a star.