6 replies to this topic

[apfever]

I looked around with no luck on confirming the white mount to be Mizar. It is almost identical to my grey Mizar on the right. There are some small hardware changes. The white mount has a fine adjust in the hub fork for azm so it has an extended base. Other than the extended base, the hub has the same characteristics in the casting.  I went over both mounts in a side by side in detail. It is either Mizar or a very well matched clone.  

Attached Thumbnails

• 

Edited by apfever, 30 July 2022 - 07:13 PM.

[apfever]

This came with an 8" astrograph that I measured to be roughly F3.5. There are several consecutive adapters to get to the 1.25" eyepiece ring. The main drawtube is about 2-3/8" I.D. 

There is no paper work and no identifying label on anything, no dates, no make, no country, nothing.  The label by the focuser is a Sun warning only.  The tube and rings match the mount for finish.  

 

Attached Thumbnails

• 
• 

[Kasmos]

I looked around with no luck on confirming the white mount to be Mizar. It is almost identical to my grey Mizar on the right. There are some small hardware changes. The white mount has a fine adjust in the hub fork for azm so it has an extended base. Other than the extended base, the hub has the same characteristics in the casting.  I went over both mounts in a side by side in detail. It is either Mizar or a very well matched clone.  

It looks like a version of a Mizar AR-1 mount, but...

 

https://stargazerslo...cation-of-mount

[Jon Isaacs]

The OTA looks similar to some of the Ebay 200 mm x 750 mm Newtonians with spherical mirrors. Not sure about the mounts. The cast spider is consistent with the Ebay scopes I've seen on Craigslist as is the color scheme.

 

I looked to see if I could find anything on line. 

 

Only this.

 

https://m.alibaba.co...0mm-Newton.html

 

A true Mizar

 

 

https://palmsprings....492553725.html 

 

Jon

 

 

 

 

 

[apfever]

Thanks all for the links. It is a Helios. 

 

I found this link to a Helios within the links posted. It appears to be a Chinese knock off of the Mizar mount with a questionable OTA. The date would be around 2003. So far I haven't seen any issues with the mount. The OTA was already collimated. The link states the mirror is spherical - at F4. Right now the mirror is filthy and has to be cleaned before I can even check it for focal length. It has an 'official' eliptical secondary that is huge. I don't think this scope fits in this forum. If the mirror is spherical it doesn't fit in astronomy. 

 

I'll clean the primary, check exact focal length and F ratio while out. I can close up some tolerances on collimation. Now there might be some curiosity in this forum about the primary being spherical. I'll get it out for a test run. If it is spherical then the images should be horrible. I don't know the wave error of a spherical F4 mirror but it won't be pretty. I'll do a quick report here for the curiosity, no detailed review. I already checked the mount for the DEC worm issues mentioned in the link. This was already fixed by factory or by previous owner. The offset mounting bolts can be seen. The mount seems to be fairly decent. 

[Jon Isaacs]

Hi:

 

The formula for spherical error is Lambda = 22.55 x D / Fr³ = 2.8 wave.  D is in inches.

 

My recollection is that this scope was sold under a number of names, for some reason they were all that same color scheme. I'm glad you were able to find the details. The mounts are usable. 

 

Jon

[Terra Nova]

The OTA looks similar to some of the Ebay 200 mm x 750 mm Newtonians with spherical mirrors. Not sure about the mounts. The cast spider is consistent with the Ebay scopes I've seen on Craigslist as is the color scheme.

 

I looked to see if I could find anything on line. 

 

Only this.

 

https://m.alibaba.co...0mm-Newton.html

 

A true Mizar

 

01515_bpxJJc5wPaMz_0CI0t2_1200x900.jpg

 

https://palmsprings....492553725.html 

 

Jon

I thought the same thing Jon! It looked like them to me. I should note I am going completely from memory and didn’t look them back up.