14 replies to this topic

[Don W]

Just picked this up.

 

[petert913]

Wow, I did not know that Celestron ever made such a thing.  Very handy for aligning guide scope with main scope.  I have a similar device from Astromania, but it doesn't look

quite as sturdy as that one.   Works quite well, though.  Very handy. 

[clamchip]

I have a similar one on a 1976 C5 that is drilled for a 8 inch Schmidt camera.

Your tangent-to-main scope mounting holes look like they may be the same.

Yours is a later tangent with a single 1/4"-20 screw that I'm pretty sure uses

this bracket shown:

Robert

 

Edited by clamchip, 14 February 2019 - 07:34 PM.

[clamchip]

Here's the early version with it's connections for a C5.

On the main scope side of the tangent the wide spaced arrows are 8 inch Schmidt

camera and possibly others.The narrow spaced arrows are C14.

I was going to modify mine to fit my C14 but chickened out due to two reasons,I

didn't want to do irreversible modification, although it didn't matter because

Celestron did exactly the same thing, and I felt strongly I'd someday own a

8 inch camera.

I sold the C14 and I would like to own a 8 inch camera someday. And although

these days there are many modern choices for guiding I still think I would like

to do it with a C5 guide scope, exposure times will be very short.

Robert 

 

Edited by clamchip, 14 February 2019 - 07:35 PM.

[CHASLX200]

I had one years ago for a C5 and my C14.  Paid heavy price for it back in the 90's.

[Don W]

I picked up an orange tube C-5 guide scope with tangent assembly last year.

 

 

 

[CHASLX200]

They don't pop up for sale very much. Avg price for one back in the 90's was over $200.

[starman876]

I have had a couple of those and I paid dearly for them a couple of years ago and then I sold them with some scopes.   They were a coveted item with the blue and white celestrons.  The 4" and 5" blue and white guide scopes were always mounted on the blue and white celestrons with those tangent arms. However, they were painted blue in those days. 

[Mister T.]

I have a rather odd version of the tangent assembly; it's meant for an

Orange Tube C90!

 

I was told by the seller that it was meant to use a C90 as the finder for

a C14. I picked it up to add to my orange tube C8, but somehow that

never happened; I never got around to fabricating a base adapter for

it to mount the beast.

 

For the Celestron fanciers out there...  the part number is molded into

the base. It is 50925.

[Don W]

They were  never made to be used as a finder. They are to mount a guide scope.

[Gary Esterly]

Right, like the Orange tube C90? I have an Orange tube C8 and a matching C90. I can use a Celestron accessory mount to mount my C90 on the C8, but it's not as good as actually having the tangent mount.....

[Chris MN]

This is why I like CN.  Solves a lot of mysteries.  Years ago I bought an old C8.  "Old" meaning this one has the smooth orange finish and the no knob plastic cap plus the non-standard SCT threads.  It had an odd "item" bolted to the tube as well as a random screw on the back cell rib. Never could figure out why these were there.  Now I think I know what these items were for!  After seeing this thread, it would appear that this C8 may have started out life as a guide scope for a C14 and these odd items were the remnants of the robust Celestron tangent mount. 

 

Mystery solved.

 

 

Chris N

Cedar, MN

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[GalaxyPiper]

So...as I understand this item, this was to "fine tune" an slightly smaller secondary scope as a finder so the larger scope could have a camera attached to it.

But, the off axis flip mirror replaced this rather archaic method of visual guiding.

 

We have to remember back in the 1970s, there was no computer small enough or any camera guiding available back at this time. The human was the computer and provided guiding, and cameras had film.

 

Just like the Apollo lander the human "was" the computer, with the help of a rudimentary computer that MIT built.

 

The flip mirror made this device obsolete. The electronic CCD replaced the eyeball, and the portable computer replaced the human, with the CCD replacing the film camera.

 

The off-access guider then replaced the need for a separate scope attached to the main scope, then lately modern cameras now have duel cameras replacing the off-access guider.

 

The latest change being the robot telescope, making all of the above obsolete...

Interesting and sad at the same time. The human equation being tasked less and less...

 

People still sail...because of the challenge. Maybe the hobby needs to have different classes assigned to it.

Maybe five different classes of effort and technology.

 

Mixing and matching has caused this to blur, but really, just like motorcycles with different CC sized engines and HP, or hobby railroad gauges, that maybe in this hobby, this should be given some thought as well.

Edited by GalaxyPiper, 23 January 2025 - 01:52 PM.

[Don W]

No, not as a finder!

 

A guide scope!

[highfnum]

yea I got one 

not in use right now

was for Schmidt camera piggy back