Here’s an oldie!

Post a Picture of Your Classic Telescope- with or without you!
#5028
Posted 02 February 2025 - 12:15 AM
Here’s an oldie!
Which you or the scope? Mike
#5029
Posted 02 February 2025 - 11:16 AM
Takahashi MT-130 with a recoated primary. Took it out last evening after a quick laser collimation, let it settle for an hour and WOW is this scope sharp! Really nice views Mars and Jupiter with the Nagler 3.5.
- deSitter, steve t, mdowns and 6 others like this
#5030
Posted 02 February 2025 - 01:06 PM
Takahashi MT-130 with a recoated primary. Took it out last evening after a quick laser collimation, let it settle for an hour and WOW is this scope sharp! Really nice views Mars and Jupiter with the Nagler 3.5.
This deserves a Tak 50mm finder - which is a good little 2" telescope in its own right!
-drl
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#5031
Posted 02 February 2025 - 09:53 PM
I originally had my 6” f/15 Jaegers riding on my tall Atlas EQ-G and I was pretty happy with it. However, it felt a bit… fragile. It works okay and the Altas handled it well, but I wanted something a bit simpler and robust, particularly if I ever wanted to use the Jaegers at an outreach event. To make a long story short, The Jaegers now rides on a Cave equatorial mount with 1.5" shafts on top of a modified Meade Giant field tripod. A quick test this evening showed this to be a very stable platform that is very easy to use. Wonderful!
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#5032
Posted 02 February 2025 - 10:09 PM
I originally had my 6” f/15 Jaegers riding on my tall Atlas EQ-G and I was pretty happy with it. However, it felt a bit… fragile. It works okay and the Altas handled it well, but I wanted something a bit simpler and robust, particularly if I ever wanted to use the Jaegers at an outreach event. To make a long story short, The Jaegers now rides on a Cave equatorial mount with 1.5" shafts on top of a modified Meade Giant field tripod. A quick test this evening showed this to be a very stable platform that is very easy to use. Wonderful!
OMG a classic giant trifecta! What a beast!
-drl
Edited by deSitter, 02 February 2025 - 10:09 PM.
#5033
Posted 02 February 2025 - 10:15 PM
I originally had my 6” f/15 Jaegers riding on my tall Atlas EQ-G and I was pretty happy with it. However, it felt a bit… fragile. It works okay and the Altas handled it well, but I wanted something a bit simpler and robust, particularly if I ever wanted to use the Jaegers at an outreach event. To make a long story short, The Jaegers now rides on a Cave equatorial mount with 1.5" shafts on top of a modified Meade Giant field tripod. A quick test this evening showed this to be a very stable platform that is very easy to use. Wonderful!
Very nice! I like that better than the Atlas.
- Kasmos likes this
#5034
Posted 02 February 2025 - 10:42 PM
Which you or the scope?
Mike
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Both and thanks for reminding me! I was referring to the picture.
#5035
Posted 02 February 2025 - 10:52 PM
“I like that better than the Atlas.”
Heh, heh, so do I! It’s weird using a mount with _no_ slow motion controls of any kind, but the movement of this mount is so smooth it doesn’t need them. Despite a pretty rough sky I was able to observe Venus for several hours this afternoon and the drive was spot-on. The Atlas was okay, but I felt that the classic content wasn’t really high enough for the Classics Forum. Problem solved.
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#5036
Posted 03 February 2025 - 01:28 AM
Here’s an oldie!
Thanks, Terra. That's an awesome old refractor. What is it? You've got quite the history of having such great telescopes. When I was a teenager, I really wanted to get a Unitron 2.4-inch. Dollars were hard to come by then. But a kindly gentleman in a local astronomy club taught me how to make a 6-inch reflector. So I had to wait over 50 years to get a nice refractor - an AT115EDT, which I really enjoy. My only other refractor is an 1810 Dollond spyglass that was given to me when I was making my first reflector. We've come a long way since the days of the Dollonds.
All the Best,
Russ
- BillShort and Terra Nova like this
#5037
Posted 03 February 2025 - 07:35 AM
“I like that better than the Atlas.”
Heh, heh, so do I! It’s weird using a mount with _no_ slow motion controls of any kind, but the movement of this mount is so smooth it doesn’t need them. Despite a pretty rough sky I was able to observe Venus for several hours this afternoon and the drive was spot-on. The Atlas was okay, but I felt that the classic content wasn’t really high enough for the Classics Forum. Problem solved.
All that moment arm on that small cast aluminum saddle made me nervous! This is way better.
-drl
- Airship likes this
#5038
Posted 03 February 2025 - 10:18 AM
Which you or the scope?
Mike
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Hush! We don't speak of a lady's age.
#5039
Posted 03 February 2025 - 03:50 PM
“I like that better than the Atlas.”
Heh, heh, so do I! It’s weird using a mount with _no_ slow motion controls of any kind, but the movement of this mount is so smooth it doesn’t need them. Despite a pretty rough sky I was able to observe Venus for several hours this afternoon and the drive was spot-on. The Atlas was okay, but I felt that the classic content wasn’t really high enough for the Classics Forum. Problem solved.
Looks much more Classic now
I've got a similar little brother
4" Jaegers on a 1" Cave mount.
And yes it's different not having slow controls but it works well just pushing it to where you want and then turning on the drive.
I built it in the Fall of 1978 and it was my first experince with a GEM so I didn't know any better.
Looking back I find it kind of strange that Cave didn't give me any instruction on how to use it.
I suppose they thought I knew what I was doing?
Edited by Kasmos, 03 February 2025 - 03:51 PM.
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#5040
Posted 03 February 2025 - 04:18 PM

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#5041
Posted 03 February 2025 - 04:55 PM
my 10inch lightbridge about 2012 or so with my good old helper Marley. Sold when my wife and I moved onto our chris craft and I bought a ETX125 which worked great until the altitude motor crapped out recently. I just bought an old Meade star finder 12.5 which I’ll pick up next week. I live on a island and the seller lives on a different island so we have to coordinate some ferries!
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#5043
Posted 03 February 2025 - 10:18 PM
It's a well-executed, simple, robust mount that just works. Love it!
#5046
Posted 04 February 2025 - 07:48 PM
Vixen tripod, Synta mount, Meade ETX-125 - this is a killer setup! So easy to use! Mount is just a joy to operate. It's getting OnStep-ped on soon.
-drl
Slap a 50mm finder on it.
#5047
Posted 04 February 2025 - 07:57 PM
Slap a 50mm finder on it.
Not needed. The 8x RA finder is fine. A 60mm RACI will eventually live on it. BTW it's freaky sharp like the 90 and 105.
-drl
- Bomber Bob likes this
#5050
Posted 05 February 2025 - 10:44 AM
Thanks, Terra. That's an awesome old refractor. What is it? You've got quite the history of having such great telescopes. When I was a teenager, I really wanted to get a Unitron 2.4-inch. Dollars were hard to come by then. But a kindly gentleman in a local astronomy club taught me how to make a 6-inch reflector. So I had to wait over 50 years to get a nice refractor - an AT115EDT, which I really enjoy. My only other refractor is an 1810 Dollond spyglass that was given to me when I was making my first reflector. We've come a long way since the days of the Dollonds.
All the Best,
Russ
Thank you for the kind words Russ, that scope was my 3” Unitron. It had a wonderful objective F16 objective and was on a rock-solid mount. In downsizing my life, it and all my other long refractors are gone save for the 60mm I started out with in 1965. Not a Unitron, but a very nearly optically perfect little Mayflower F12 made by APL. A year later I too made a 6” Newtonian via Thompson’s Making Your Own Telescope, (I no longer have the telescope but I do still have the book! )
Edited by Terra Nova, 05 February 2025 - 11:24 AM.
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