1693 replies to this topic

[GalaxyPiper]

Very nice. Cinch Jones 302 power cable needed. The Female (Male?) end can be found online but research the polarity. These are not grounded so there is a danger of shock in high humidity, so just be aware.

 

For safety, read this past thread on Cloudy Nights:

 

https://www.cloudyni...question/page-3

 

Data Sheet:

 

https://www.mouser.c...ies-1358563.pdf

Edited by GalaxyPiper, 24 October 2024 - 12:01 PM.

[GalaxyPiper]

Quote from: Roscoe on this thread Post #67: https://www.cloudyni...question/page-4

 

Posted 25 October 2013 - 04:33 PM

"A 3-prong isn't the only way to go... if you look at most semi-modern 2-prong plugs, one side is wider than the other. This prevents them from being plugged in backwards, as a safety system. the wider prong is connected to the white/neutral/grounded side of the electrical service(fuse or breaker panel), unless of course some red-eye kill-a-watt wired the outlet wrong, which, of course, can happen with 3-prong outlets, too.
This 2-prong system insures that, for a lamp as an example, the threaded part the bulb screws into is neutral - and not switched, and only the little tab in the bottom is 'hot' and only with the switch on.
Best overall insurance?? Buy an outlet tester! They are the size of an ice cube, have a 3-prong plug on one end and 3 neon lights on the other end. $5-7 at any big-box or decent hardware store. two green...all ok. Anything else.... DANGER!"
R

Edited by GalaxyPiper, 24 October 2024 - 12:16 PM.

[djhayden]

The optical tube decided it no longer wanted to remain attached to the back of the telescope and took a diving leap off the table and onto the floor, cracking the corrector plate. I feel my poor scope is beyond saving at this point, but thought I would share to mourn the loss of a good scope.

[GalaxyPiper]

The optical tube decided it no longer wanted to remain attached to the back of the telescope and took a diving leap off the table and onto the floor, cracking the corrector plate. I feel my poor scope is beyond saving at this point, but thought I would share to mourn the loss of a good scope.

OH  ! ....sorry to hear this.

You would have to send it back to Celestron and they could match the mirror with another corrector plate...but it may not be worth it.

  Dang...this is bad news!

My condolences! 

[pierce]

 

You would have to send it back to Celestron and they could match the mirror with another corrector plate...but it may not be worth it.

 

With Celestron having been part of Synta/Skywatcher now for nearly 20 years, I wonder if they even still have any US manufacturing or service left ?   I'm not sure if they even sell the classic C8 anymore, all I see  new anymore are EdgeHD

[flyboyu777]

OH  ! ....sorry to hear this.

You would have to send it back to Celestron and they could match the mirror with another corrector plate...but it may not be worth it.

  Dang...this is bad news!

My condolences! 

Celestron won't do this-I've already tried to no avail. . . . .

[GalaxyPiper]

Celestron won't do this-I've already tried to no avail. . . . .

Double dratt...  

[Gary Esterly]

Here's the serial number off my latest Ebay purchase- 825286. It seems to be in good shape, mirror needs cleaning. It came with the 8x50 Polaris Illuminated Right Angle Correct Image Finderscope, which lists for about $150. Got the whole setup for about $375 plus shipping. Anybody care to guess the year of manufacture?

 

 

 

 

Edited by Gary Esterly, 06 December 2024 - 02:44 PM.

[CHASLX200]

Here's the serial number off my latest Ebay purchase- 825286. It seems to be in good shape, mirror needs cleaning. It came with the 8x50 Polaris Illuminated Right Angle Correct Image Finderscope, which lists for about $150. Got the whole setup for about $375 plus shipping. Anybody care to guess the year of manufacture?

 

 

 

 

Looks like a 1985.

[Gary Esterly]

CHASLX200-

 

Does this .O'Dell appear to be a Super C8?

[MrMessy]

I found out today I might have one of the sand cast forks C-8s. There are holes in the forks. Its been an absolute hoot since I found it in a second hand shop  that had closed and had already sold the window display where the C-8 was sitting, no mount, no eye pieces and no front cover. The owners, who were sitting on the store step, said that the price was $200, and they would simply turn over the money to the purchaser.

 

This thread came up in a search for the C-8's focal length as I was using the AstroJargon Mask Generator to print a Bhatinov mask that I would cut out with an exacto knife. I am re-collimating the scope at the moment and wanted a different mask from the old 3 hole.

 

Here is the motor

 

here is the Serial Plate

 

 

and of course the scope. 

 

 

Other than getting a bit excited, I know nothing about the scope other that to say it  might have found me .

Any idea of the date of this gem I found?

[CHASLX200]

CHASLX200-

 

Does this .O'Dell appear to be a Super C8?

Could be.

[flyboyu777]

Here's the serial number off my latest Ebay purchase- 825286. It seems to be in good shape, mirror needs cleaning. It came with the 8x50 Polaris Illuminated Right Angle Correct Image Finderscope, which lists for about $150. Got the whole setup for about $375 plus shipping. Anybody care to guess the year of manufacture?

 

 

 

 

1983-84 era-it's hard to pin it down exactly, based on trying to date my Super C-8. . . . .

 

 

2 cats, one of them without the fur. . . . .

Edited by flyboyu777, 09 December 2024 - 09:09 AM.

[Paul Laufer]

What your seeing is warm air coming out the top of the baffle tube.

- Dave

 

Once you see that baffle tube current it never goes away.

 

I was doing some research on another issue and stumbled upon this thread. I found it interesting because I worked in the Celestron matching room for a few years in the early 1990's and have matched hundreds of these systems, carefully scribing the serial # on the corrector, secondary and primary. I see the one posted above with the primary serial # written in marker. Unfortunately it's been too long for me to remember if I was scribing primaries or using marker.

 

But I do vividly remember the log book where we entered the numbers, and included an A/B/C rating for how good we thought the optics were.

 

I have owned a couple of perfect "no-run" systems, but was dumb enough to sell them. I also have a perfect C90. Those are the ones you put in the tester and they're essentially perfect before you even touch them. If the system was just too perfect to pass by, sometimes a guy would wrap it up and stick it under the desk to have assembly build a scope out of it later on.

[CHASLX200]

Once you see that baffle tube current it never goes away.

 

I was doing some research on another issue and stumbled upon this thread. I found it interesting because I worked in the Celestron matching room for a few years in the early 1990's and have matched hundreds of these systems, carefully scribing the serial # on the corrector, secondary and primary. I see the one posted above with the primary serial # written in marker. Unfortunately it's been too long for me to remember if I was scribing primaries or using marker.

 

But I do vividly remember the log book where we entered the numbers, and included an A/B/C rating for how good we thought the optics were.

 

I have owned a couple of perfect "no-run" systems, but was dumb enough to sell them. I also have a perfect C90. Those are the ones you put in the tester and they're essentially perfect before you even touch them. If the system was just too perfect to pass by, sometimes a guy would wrap it up and stick it under the desk to have assembly build a scope out of it later on.

I always wondered how my 1984 black C8 was the best out of every SCT i ever owned out of around 65.

[John Rogers]

Here's the serial number off my latest Ebay purchase- 825286. It seems to be in good shape, mirror needs cleaning. It came with the 8x50 Polaris Illuminated Right Angle Correct Image Finderscope, which lists for about $150. Got the whole setup for about $375 plus shipping. Anybody care to guess the year of manufacture?

 

 

 

A few months ago I posted my Black-tube Super C8, S/N 820854 with original sales receipt from 31 October 1983.  It had the Byers drive with window as well.

[pierce]

 

I found out today I might have one of the sand cast forks C-8s. There are holes in the forks. Its been an absolute hoot since I found it in a second hand shop  that had closed and had already sold the window display where the C-8 was sitting, no mount, no eye pieces and no front cover. The owners, who were sitting on the store step, said that the price was $200, and they would simply turn over the money to the purchaser.

 

This thread came up in a search for the C-8's focal length as I was using the AstroJargon Mask Generator to print a Bhatinov mask that I would cut out with an exacto knife. I am re-collimating the scope at the moment and wanted a different mask from the old 3 hole.

 

Here is the motor

 

here is the Serial Plate

 

 

 

and of course the scope. 

 

 

 

Other than getting a bit excited, I know nothing about the scope other that to say it  might have found me .

Any idea of the date of this gem I found?

 

that 131905 serial number puts it in the 1974-1975 range.   Saying "Celestron Pacific" means its pre 1977.

[Paul Laufer]

I always wondered how my 1984 black C8 was the best out of every SCT i ever owned out of around 65.

Celestron wouldn't like to admit it, but of course some are better than others. And on rare occasion, a system turns out as perfect as the testers are able to measure. Easily standing up to a 300 line Ronchi. Where the airy disk looks like a golf ball with an onion ring around it. I currently have an old rubber armored C90 that I talked my Dad into buying way back then. I for sure didn't have the money to buy it at the time, but the optics were awesome. Sadly I lost him two years ago and that old C90 is back here with me now. My first job there was making C90 correctors for a month or two before moving to the matching room, and eventually to block making (the only optics they made at the Torrance factory that weren't a sphere was in block making).

[wykbbb]

I read a few posts about people wanting a better way to keep the registry updated. I'm a web developer.

 

I created a demo website that displays data submitted via Google Forms.  The demo has a list of books, but this code could be used for anything. Feel free to add records using the form and go to the site to see the data. Website. Google Form.

 

- As long Google Forms does not ask for user's email and does not allow file uploads, then people do not need a Google Account to submit the form.

- The data from Google Forms is saved to Google Sheets. This means the data can be exported into other formats.

- The website shows all the records in the Google Sheets. The site uses javascript to fetch data from the Google Sheets and render the HTML, which means the site will be updated a few seconds after form submission.

- The data is stored for free in Google Sheet. The webpage is hosted for free on Github pages. This means the entire setup can be hosted for free.

- I added  "Verified" column to Google Sheet that only people who have editor permission  can update.

- I created a very basic site that just displays a table of data. The code can be updated to add features like sort by columns, search, etc.

- The code to create the site is open source.

- One or more people can be given permission to edit Google Forms,  Google Sheets, and website code. Having multiple people update the registry can speed up the verification processing.

- If the data of the current registry is stored in a spreadsheet or csv, then the data can easily be imported into Google Sheets.

 

This is just a demo. There is still other stuff to discuss if y'all are interested in creating  something like this for the registry.

Edited by wykbbb, 15 December 2024 - 12:15 PM.

[das052780]

Good morning, fellow stargazers! I'm new to the hobby and the site but I've always had a strong interest in astronomy and a love for the night sky. My wife and kids are all in on this adventure with me learning the basics. I recently had the opportunity to give this older C8 a home for $75, and took some pictures just in case it could add additional data to the registry. Hopefully it helps. I found numbers on the mount, but I'm not sure if any of them are a serial number. I just purchased the scope a few days ago and have it hidden away till I surprise the family on Christmas, but during the day while I'm working from home I'll be bringing it out to clean up all the dust that built up from sitting unused in the original owner's garage for years. Any info about this find that would supplement my initial research is greatly appreciated. I'm guessing it's a C8+ from the early 80s with a Beyers drive. There were no other lenses or a hand controller. It did come with the lens cover and the optics appear to be in pristine condition. I'm thrilled. I know it might not be the perfect starter scope, but I know it's a good one and I'm hopeful that it will help add to the collective knowledge of the C8 series and give out family years of opportunities to explore the heavens.

 

Photo gallery: https://photos.app.g...QqEMHiLPEHjei16

[starhunter50]

Need help with C8 ID pending sale.

Any info would help...

According to seller it appearss as a Celestar C8 1996?

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Edited by starhunter50, 15 December 2024 - 08:37 PM.

[CHASLX200]

Looks to be made after 1987 and maybe a Celestar.

[starhunter50]

This is the serial # of my "new" Celestar (non-deluxe) with Starbright coatings. It has less than a week in my hands. Probably mid 90s?

 

Clear Skies

do you have other images of your C8 ... side view and rear. im on the verge f a Celestar C8 but something is amiss. if i buy it i want to register it here.

[GalaxyPiper]

Carefully pry off the orange cover from the front central secondary. It is held on with two clips.

Use a butter knife or dull screw driver, it's not held on too tight, but be careful.

Underneath you will find the serial number of the OTA.

That in turn will give you a date range from those that are already listed.

Should be early to mid 90s.

The only other way is to look at the motors that are date stamped to get an idea. That requires a bit of disassembly.

Edited by GalaxyPiper, 16 December 2024 - 12:20 PM.

[starhunter50]

Dont think the seller wants mess with that. so im kinda stuck till i lay down the clams. 650$

Edited by starhunter50, 16 December 2024 - 03:21 PM.