93 replies to this topic

[Defenderslideguitar]

Cool thread    sorry I am late to the game      crazy here in South West Connecticut

 

 

here's one from DMala's estate  the jury is still out on this little Tower as I have not used it yet

 

followed by the sweet little red Voyager that could

 

Hope to see the pink moon tonight after I teach my ethics class via zoom video

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Edited by Defenderslideguitar, 07 April 2020 - 03:39 PM.

[Kasmos]

 

here's one from DMala's estate  the jury is still out on this little Tower as I have not used it yet

The Jury is still out? (was that intentional?)

 

Looks like they aren't the only ones! 

Edited by Kasmos, 07 April 2020 - 07:35 PM.

[mattyfatz]

Recently picked up this Meade 377.. close cousin with the Tasco 9/99/999 scopes I think. Only some subtle differences at first look...

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[mattyfatz]

Here it is next to its 9VR kin

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[davidmcgo]

Nice!  I sometimes use my TeleVue 60 on one of those mounts.  Not great at higher powers but fun anyway!

 

Dave

[mattyfatz]

The Meade mount is actually slightly taller. The Tasco mount stores it’s legs within the body, but the Meade does not. I think these are a step up from other tabletop mounts, as well as the cheaper photo tripods. I’ve used it with my 50mm travel scope.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[mattyfatz]

This little Swift has superb optics. It’s actually surprisingly crisp and I don’t see any false color. Easily held in the hand, and so light any tripod will do

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[mattyfatz]

One more pic of the little Swift. The mount thread  is off on an angle, so you have to angle it up a bit.

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[RalphMeisterTigerMan]

Ouch! My neck! Or if you're German...Omma Neck und Opa Neck! LOL! 

 

...and they wonder why 90-degree star diagonals were created! Mind you, the straight-through scope was designed to be hand held!

 

Clear skies!

RalphMeisterTigerMan

[Ben Bajorek]

I have a few tabletop or library mounted antique telescopes but this one is my favorite.  An equatorial mount on finely proportioned Tuscan column base was purchased for not a great deal of money, such a fine piece of craftsmanship.  And while I'm not entirely sure, I strongly suspect it was made by Bardou as it shares certain unique details with other Bardou mounts.  The optically superb telescope is a wooden tube Bardou branded for William T. Gregg, a New York City seller of scientific equipment in the 19th century, which fits the mount perfectly.  The first time I assembled these two pieces together was kind of magical.  "Where have you been for the past 150 years?"          

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Edited by Ben Bajorek, 14 May 2020 - 07:04 PM.

[RBD]

Lichtenknecker 50/500, more than 40 years old.

 

Robert

 

[mattyfatz]

Love those! 

[Piggyback]

The Nagler monster sure is dwarfing that little 50mm Lichtenknecker. How are the views?

[RBD]

The views are very good and sharp for such an old lens. Although the old eyepieces are not bad, you get a significant improvement with modern eyepieces. And it is always surprising what 2 inches can show.

[skysurfer]

My 80mm which I have since 1973, but it is refurbished with a better objective lens (the original one being 'pinched') and the eyepiece turret with the horrible Huygens tunnel vision eyepieces is replaced by an 1.25" diagonal accepting (small 1.25") standard eyepieces.

And I also made a quick release plate to the top part, so it can be detached from the pillar and mounted on a tripod or my EQ mount.

It was originally designed as a spotting scope.

 

https://www.skysurfer.eu/polarex80.php

 

Now I use it many times, despite being only an achromat, even planet viewing is good at 100x (seeing allows), thanks to better opics.

And I wonder how much deepsky can even be seen with only 80mm. Sometimes I have both my 16" Dob and this telescope both outside and observe objects with both.

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Edited by skysurfer, 16 May 2020 - 12:03 PM.

[Steve_M_M]

70mm

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[mattyfatz]

I remember those Newton’s! How does it perform?

[Astrolite]

Just noticed this thread. Here's a couple shots of my Sans & Streiffe Cosmic Finder. Sharp little scope with very nice optics. I think it's a cousin to the Bushnell Sky Rover.

 

 

[mattyfatz]

Just nabbed the elusive (to me) CO-62 to complete this collection.

I also have the 999vr but it pales in a quality of build comparison. Both Celestron & Tasco are Vixen products (circle V on both), but the Meade has no markings. I wonder if the Celestron is truly a 62mm. Hard to tell by eyeballing it.

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[mattyfatz]

There will be a showdown tonight 

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[Steve_M_M]

I'll put $10 down on the Meade to win 

[tturtle]

I love it when a thread that is many years old comes back to life. Here’s my Carton Mini 60mm f6 refractor just recently acquired from eBay and direct from Japan. Optically and mechanically beautiful. Never mind what I said in the past about short focal length refractors!

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Edited by tturtle, 16 August 2023 - 01:48 PM.

[Rick-T137]

I love it when a thread that is many years old comes back to life. Here’s my Carton Mini 60mm f6 refractor just recently acquired from eBay and direct from Japan. Optically and mechanically beautiful. Never mind what I said in the past about short focal length refractors!

I agree! Zombie threads can be the most fun!

 

I noticed I lost the pic of my little Jason 323 that I posted previously in this thread, so I thought I'd share it again for the Bird-Jones crowd...

 

[deSitter]

This is like watching kitten videos

 

https://www.youtube....h?v=ukfiRC6uGEo

 

-drl

[mattyfatz]

I love it when a thread that is many years old comes back to life. Here’s my Carton Mini 60mm f6 refractor just recently acquired from eBay and direct from Japan. Optically and mechanically beautiful. Never mind what I said in the past about short focal length refractors!

So, I’m assuming that the focuser was originally a .965? Is that an aftermarket adapter to get it to take that 1.25” diagonal? I have a .965 to 1.25” adapter but it isn’t very sturdy.