236 replies to this topic

[Lew Chilton]

On this thread, we've mentioned the great instrument maker, George Carroll. John Pons owns one of his 8-inch objectives, which he describes as near to perfect as an achromat can get, but when coupled with a Roland Christian chromacor, becomes an absolutely perfect apochromat.

Well, here's a picture of George Carroll that I took at the 1980 Riverside Telescope Makers' Conference in Big Bear, California. He is standing in front of a 4-inch instrument that he made in the late 1940s for Les Mawhinney who gave it to the Los Angeles Astronomcial Society in 1976. Unfortunately, someone stole the objective out of the tube at the LAAS observing site within a year or two after this picture was taken.

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[Steve_M_M]

Here are a few pictures of the eyepieces, diagonal, wedge, and other accessories that are with the scope.

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[Steve_M_M]

Here is a nice door

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[clintwhitman]

Hey Steve am I the only one that isnt wondering why you have GOTO and Titan stuff in your living room?? Heres to you Mr. White you went thru one of the strangest transactions I have ever been involved in and didnt faulter enough to blow it. Your paitence has been rewarded 10 fold!! You are the owner of one of the best and coolest telescopes in the USA today!! It will reward you every time you wind that clock. Have fun on your trip. The Caveman with sore arms!!!!

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[trainsktg]

Steve,

You got the DOOR, too? I suppose it will now lead to your bedroom?

Keith

[Glassthrower]

So Steve, did we miss an official announcement?!?!?

Didya gettit? Didya gettit?

[clintwhitman]

Steve and I hauled it to his house last night lock stock, door and 500 lbs of pier. Steve I belive is on his way to Yosemite with his wife and kids but rest asured he is the owner of the GOTO from hell!!! John Has some money! Caveman got pats on the back and my ARMS a sore!!! OOO Johns having the finder scope brakets he designed for the Unipon fabricated for me!!! I am just glad it all worked out after all the hubub! you wouldnt belive it if I told you. Well Keith would!

[Glassthrower]

That is great news!

Well, great news for Steve, bittersweet news for Mr. Pons who I am sure hated to let it go. But it passes on into the hands of another grateful astronomer who can give it the respect it requires. So it's a story that is beginning another happy chapter.

Of course, when Steve finally gets back, we'll barrage him with questions and photo requests. I'm curious where he plans to install the beast - build something in the house to accomodate it or house it in a seperate observatory.

Regards and clear skies,

MikeG

[Steve_M_M]

Well, I am on the way out the door right now. But, I will have some interesting pictures and additional information when I get back home.

I may set it up once soon just so I can get it done right. There is still quite a lot of cosmetic restoration necessary. I suspect a complete restoration will take a few years, depending on what I do and what I send out. Function is perfect on the scope. John has it ticking like a fine clock.

I would like to also publicly thank Clint for facilitating this purchase and helping me get the beast home. Wow!

Steve

[Glassthrower]

Congratulations Steve on a truly enormous score of epic proportions!

:elephdance:

It's very rare that a scope of this size and vintage (with this kind of history) changes hands on the amateur market. Many people would consider themselves lucky to ever see such a scope in person, less yet OWN it. I'm sure it is going to be well worth every hard-earned penny you spent on it.

AND TO THE GROUP : Nobody ask Steve what he paid for this titan. I'm sure it wasn't cheap, and Steve might not want to volunteer what he gave for it. If he does, then he can do that.

Wow, it's actually pretty cool from the perspective of someone in our little Classics group here. I "know" somebody who owns this scope and can ask him questions about it personally, right here on CN. It's like, in a small way, be able to look through mighty scope by proxy, vicariously, through Steve's membership here in the group.

Have a safe fun trip to Yosemite, and then come back and fill us in on the details!

Regards and clear skies,

MikeG

[trainsktg]

I am just glad it all worked out after all the hubub! you wouldnt belive it if I told you. Well Keith would!

I hope Steve spoke of me only in generalities .

Keith

[Steve_M_M]

I am just glad it all worked out after all the hubub! you wouldnt belive it if I told you. Well Keith would!

I hope Steve spoke of me only in generalities .

Keith

From the deep woods...with verizon air card...

Yes, of course Keith.

As you all can imagine, it was very hard for John to sell the telescope. It was his baby. I wanted to do best by him and even planned on returning the telescope after seller's remorse hit him hard. A couple hours later, things worked out and we finalized the deal. It was made extra interesting by myself going through some personal job issues.

Steve

[clintwhitman]

Just a brief mention that he had spoke to you Keith! John and I are good friends and he needed to sell this scope. I didn’t really know how bad until Steve and I loaded and unloaded the mount head at 200+ lbs it is really heavy! We only loaded it into his Magnum and the two part pier into my astro van. The bottom I would guess at close to 400 lbs. John at 5'7" or so and coming up on 70 years old could not put this together by himself without serious risk to his health but has kept doing it anyway. He would not call for help; he had no good system for doing it alone. He just kept saying it was dangerous. His 10" Zeiss is easier to assemble than the Goto. I could not buy it right now due to Debbie and me buying the new house and property. John has been asking me to find a buyer for it for months, the right buyer! Not some warehouse collector, or reseller but an Astronomer. After going to Mnt. Pinos with Steve and watching how excited he became over that little Tak he had and how he spent all night helping a guy with a new 10” LX200 Meade. Then when asked if he was interested in the Goto he didn’t falter and sold every scope he had in order to purchase the Goto I think John new he was the one that would get it!! The big reason that I wanted Steve to get it was so it would stay local and be setup in a permanent location, an observatory!!! Not rolling around in a driveway waiting for a minor earthquake to topple it over, sending it to its death or falling while being assembled. John is a great man and if I was going to guess has an IQ up in the 150s somewhere as with many folks that fall in this category they can be a challenge to deal with when it comes to social event such as selling something as loved as this scope or taking them home for the holidays. The important thing is John’s heart is bigger than his 10” telescope and that’s why you have to give him a lot of latitude when it comes to friendship or business dealings. I am glad Steve is as patient as the day is long,and has a heart as big as John, that is what got him this telescope more than anything else! Clint (Caveman) Whitman Here~s to you Steve.

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[trainsktg]

I agree, its good that this scope will be used, not boxed up in a warehouse or sitting in a collection room.

Keith

[Lew Chilton]

Well, now that the 6-inch Goto has passed from John Pons to Steve Miller, a chapter ends and a new one begins.

However, John, not one to live in the past or remain idle for long, has embarked upon a new project.

Remember that superb 160mm f/16 Unitron prototype objective that he sometime used in the 6-inch Goto? Well, now he is designing a tube assembly for it so that he can mount it piggyback on his 10-inch Zeiss.

Everything that John makes reflects the highest level of craftsmanship, and this new scope will be no exception. So stay tuned for further developments.

[Steve_M_M]

Just an update....

I have spent the past 6 weeks disassembling the telescope and mount to remove all the heavily corroded parts. I was left with 72 pieces, not including bolts/screws...just the big stuff. I decided the best way to do this was to interview platers. As it turned out, one in particular was willing to strip and re-plate several parts with different techniques and see what I liked and match the original finish the best. By the way JWW, I spoke to several platers about the technique you told me about and I researched quite a bit. Seems the technique has been somewhat abandoned in CA due to some explosion that occurred a few years ago.

When I brought the parts over, the owner and production manager spent about 90 minutes with me going over every part and my concerns as to each specific part.

So, today I examined the samples. Wow! This place, Highland Plating, does some amazing work. They stripped and replated 4 focus knobs and both of the setting circles with varying plating from Nickel to Chrome to Satin Nickel and Satin Chrome. The also did "touch" polishing that left every part looking incredible. When they were right there in front of me, it was so easy to pick.

Just a note...as I was driving over today, the owner called me to tell me he was out of town and had not finished the final pricing quote, but he had most of it done. He then gave me a number...there was a slight pause and then an "OH MY GOD" came out of mouth. But, the samples were just incredible and looked very close to original. I decided do it right once and be happy. I was able to get a lot discount of $600 and left ready to have the whole shebang done.

It all should be done on Friday 1/25.

I still have not picked out my land at Clint's place yet for an observatory, but I am hopeful that maybe we can have a star party during the lunar eclipse on Feb 21st.

I can't wait to get everything back and finally assemble the telescope.

Steve

[BHunt]

I still have not picked out my land at Clint's place yet for an observatory, but I am hopeful that maybe we can have a star party during the lunar eclipse on Feb 21st.


Steve, Just have Clint subdivide a little slice off his property for your observatory. I am sure he would be happy to do that for you.
Glad you found a good man to do the replateing.
Bill

[Steve_M_M]

That is the plan. I almost had a great trade for the land, yes Clint, a Nikon o-12.5...still looking.

[Steve_M_M]

Always be very careful with your Goto.....

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[Time on my hands]

Steve, PLEASE say those are staged shots for the shock effect!

[trainsktg]

Those pics look like the Choate Observatory. Is that how John found it? Yikes.

Keith

[rwiederrich]

Those pics look like the Choate Observatory. Is that how John found it? Yikes.

Keith

I believe those images are of sever vandalism..or a storm..I can't remember which...

It is a horrible scene.

Rob

[mikey cee]

Pier bolt ripped out of the floor like earthquake damage. Maybe it happened in Japan. :question:Mike

[rwiederrich]

Pier bolt ripped out of the floor like earthquake damage. Maybe it happened in Japan. :question:Mike

I've seen these images before, and if memory serves me, they were from vandalism. Then again...my memory has been a victim of vandalism itself... So....

Rob

[Steve_M_M]

It is from an earthquake in Japan.