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If you could pick just three?

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#26 jsiska

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Posted 03 November 2024 - 09:28 PM

1. The telescope I purchased in 1962 - the TASCO 9TE now mounted on a Vixen Polaris Mount which was a vast improvement.
2. Celestron C-102F with two mounts available for it: the original Vixen Super Polaris and the Vixen Great Polaris DX with Sky Sensor 2000 on JMI Wheely Bars.
3. Meade RG Model 880 8" f/6 with too many upgrades and added after market additions to mention here.

I have a few other classics, but If I had to pick just three, I'd be happy keeping only keeping these three and I would I have no need for any other telescopes.

Edited by jsiska, 03 November 2024 - 11:42 PM.

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#27 Exnihilo

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Posted 03 November 2024 - 09:45 PM

Past classics I've had and would keep if I currently had them (sorry, I currently don't have any):

S&S Optica 8" Newtonian

Tasco 7TE-5

 

Not sure I'd keep a C8; I let the C8 Super Polaris I had go, it just wasn't that good optically.


Edited by Exnihilo, 03 November 2024 - 09:47 PM.

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#28 jragsdale

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Posted 03 November 2024 - 10:20 PM

Hmm, as others have said, 3 is hard! But I'll choose from just the classics to keep it fair. Small, medium and large.

 

1) SP-C102F - no brainer here. Simple magic little scope, perfect stars, no color, lightweight, fast cooldown. Plenty of history and lore to accompany the performance as well. (It was delivered to me for free via private jet!)

 

2) 1970 Celestron C8 Tri-color Axial Focus Serial #66 - as cool and rare as it is, the sharp views also speak for themselves. Nice moderate aperture but still light enough to pick the whole thing up and move it. My one reflector choice of the 3, this scope was given to me for free by a great local guy.

 

3) 1868 12" Alvan Clark - still under construction, but this lens is equal parts large aperture/high performance and is an iconic part of Astronomy history on its own. My personal Holy Grail and a quintessential relic from the peak of the era when refractors were king.


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#29 Steve_M_M

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Posted 03 November 2024 - 10:45 PM

Nishmura 6" Reflector

Pentax 75 EDHF with MS-3 RA Drive Mount

Goto Kogaku 6" f15 Observatory Telescope

Blue Astro-Physics 6" f9 NASA glass refractor


Edited by Steve_M_M, 03 November 2024 - 11:12 PM.

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#30 Terra Nova

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Posted 03 November 2024 - 10:51 PM

Well friends, in all fairness and honesty, I do have a few more. Remember the premise I states in my post beginning this thread? "If you could pick just three classics from your collection, what would they be?" The operative words in the question I posed were three classics. I never intended to propose three telescopes total. I have a few more than that as you can see in my signature, tho I can still count all my scopes on both hands and have a leftover finger (two fingers if you count the SeeStar as a camera and not as a telescope).


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#31 Steve_M_M

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Posted 03 November 2024 - 11:12 PM

Well friends, in all fairness and honesty, I do have a few more. Remember the premise I states in my post beginning this thread? "If you could pick just three classics from your collection, what would they be?" The operative words in the question I posed were three classics. I never intended to propose three telescopes total. I have a few more than that as you can see in my signature, tho I can still count all my scopes on both hands and have a leftover finger (two fingers if you count the SeeStar as a camera and not as a telescope).

I fixed mine  :)


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#32 photiost

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Posted 03 November 2024 - 11:33 PM

- Unitron 5in pier mounted model 530 

- Astro Physics 6in Superplanetary  (NASA Glass) 

- Celestron SPC-102F

 

There are a few more candidates not easy to pick only 3 ...


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#33 mfalls

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Posted 04 November 2024 - 02:56 AM

For complete scope/mounts as offered new:

 

1. Criterion Dynamax 8  SCT  

2. Super Polaris C6 Newtonian

3. Mayflower 814 60mm refractor

 

But likely what I would really keep are the Edmund 4 inch f/15 and Edmund 3 inch f/6 Newtonian OTAs plus the Dynamax 8


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#34 Astrojensen

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Posted 04 November 2024 - 03:34 AM

 

The operative words in the question I posed were three classics. I never intended to propose three telescopes total.

Most of my scopes are classics (or older), so that doesn't help much. I guess I would keep the APM 152/1200 ED, but honestly, most of the scopes I *really* want to keep, are my classics and vintage scopes. 

 

 

Clear skies!

Thomas, Denmark


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#35 ericb760

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Posted 04 November 2024 - 05:53 AM

Being new to the Classics game I don't yet know if I have collected my Top Three just yet. If I had to choose from what I have now, the following three would likely make the cut:

-Meade/Mizar #295 60mm refractor on a Mizar GEM

-Celestron/Vixen C4.5 Newt on a Polaris GEM

 

-Meade #277 60/300 tabletop frac


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#36 Senex Bibax

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Posted 04 November 2024 - 08:40 AM

I'm currently down to three scopes, one if which is a classic keeper - my Celestron / Vixen 80mm spotter.


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#37 ericb760

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Posted 04 November 2024 - 08:43 AM

I'm currently down to three scopes, one if which is a classic keeper - my Celestron / Vixen 80mm spotter.

I really should take mine out more often.
 

80mm Spotter

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#38 jragsdale

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Posted 04 November 2024 - 08:58 AM

The operative words in the question I posed were three classics. I never intended to propose three telescopes total

That's good, because there's no classics that can replace my C14 for planetary imaging, 5" f/7 ED triplet refractor for DSO imaging and 22" f/4 Obsession for raw light gathering. It's so fun to have so many options depending on what/where/how we are viewing.


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#39 Terra Nova

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Posted 04 November 2024 - 10:14 AM

That's good, because there's no classics that can replace my C14 for planetary imaging, 5" f/7 ED triplet refractor for DSO imaging and 22" f/4 Obsession for raw light gathering. It's so fun to have so many options depending on what/where/how we are viewing.

I still enjoy my remaining classics and also participating in this forum, but I have to admit that at least from my experience, in comparing the classic long refractors I’ve had to their contemporary apochromatic offspring, the new ones provide at least equal and in most cases superior performance visually, and ergonomically, they are superior in every way. There is a lot to be said for excellent short apos.


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#40 jragsdale

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Posted 04 November 2024 - 11:08 AM

I still enjoy my remaining classics and also participating in this forum, but I have to admit that at least from my experience, in comparing the classic long refractors I’ve had to their contemporary apochromatic offspring, the new ones provide at least equal and in most cases superior performance visually, and ergonomically, they are superior in every way. There is a lot to be said for excellent short apos.

Yeah, it's like comparing an old classic muscle car with manual transmission, no AC and no "features" to a current Tesla. Tesla will win in performance, comfort and features all day long, but there's just something about an old classic muscle car that really makes your heart skip a beat when you look at it.


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#41 deSitter

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Posted 04 November 2024 - 11:16 AM

I still enjoy my remaining classics and also participating in this forum, but I have to admit that at least from my experience, in comparing the classic long refractors I’ve had to their contemporary apochromatic offspring, the new ones provide at least equal and in most cases superior performance visually, and ergonomically, they are superior in every way. There is a lot to be said for excellent short apos.

To me the classics are like Maks - f/15 makes for easy high power with maximum eye comfort and minimal glass, and so maximum performance. There is room for a 3" f/16 and a 3" f/6.

 

-drl


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#42 deSitter

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Posted 04 November 2024 - 11:18 AM

Yeah, it's like comparing an old classic muscle car with manual transmission, no AC and no "features" to a current Tesla. Tesla will win in performance, comfort and features all day long, but there's just something about an old classic muscle car that really makes your heart skip a beat when you look at it.

My Uber was a Tesla yesterday. Horrible car :) Terrible suspension and I spent all my time thinking about how to escape a battery fire! No mechanical handles obvious.

 

-drl



#43 oldmanastro

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Posted 04 November 2024 - 03:47 PM

This is difficult but here it goes:

 

1. Sears (RAO) model 6336 76mm equatorial

2. Questar Standard 3.5" from 1986

3. Sears (Towa) 60mm f/11 altazimuth (my first telescope from 65)

 

There are a "few" more classics but I would pick these three in a heartbeat.


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#44 Bomber Bob

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Posted 04 November 2024 - 04:57 PM

Well friends, in all fairness and honesty, I do have a few more. Remember the premise I states in my post beginning this thread? "If you could pick just three classics from your collection, what would they be?" The operative words in the question I posed were three classics. I never intended to propose three telescopes total. I have a few more than that as you can see in my signature, tho I can still count all my scopes on both hands and have a leftover finger (two fingers if you count the SeeStar as a camera and not as a telescope).

Well, I don't count my 2 Display Scopes -- the Mogey 3 & Tinsley 6 -- so it's still a good (tough!) question.


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#45 Kasmos

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Posted 04 November 2024 - 06:18 PM

Well friends, in all fairness and honesty, I do have a few more. Remember the premise I states in my post beginning this thread? "If you could pick just three classics from your collection, what would they be?" The operative words in the question I posed were three classics. I never intended to propose three telescopes total. I have a few more than that as you can see in my signature, tho I can still count all my scopes on both hands and have a leftover finger (two fingers if you count the SeeStar as a camera and not as a telescope).

Not fair! All of my scopes are Classics so I guess 7 to 9 is OK for me. 

 

I kinda liked having 7 and that's what I had before I was ruined by joining this forum. grin.gif


Edited by Kasmos, 05 November 2024 - 03:15 AM.

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#46 Kasmos

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Posted 04 November 2024 - 06:19 PM

I really should take mine out more often.
 

You should replace the 277 on your list with it!.. I know I would.


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#47 RichA

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Posted 04 November 2024 - 06:51 PM

Okay Classics Aficionados, If you could pick just three classics from your collection, what would they be? I’ve had well over thirty, from multiple Unitrons, Celestrons, Meades, Vixens, Takahashis, Gotos, Sears, Zeiss, Questar (yes, I’ve from two to six of each of the brands I just named), plus various single specimens from other brands over the past 12 years. Well it’s been cut down to just three keepers: they are :

 

  1. Vixen ED102SS (c. 2000, Japan) on a Vixen Porta II mount and HAL110 tripod,
  2. Questar Standard with Broad-Band coatings and Cer-Vit mirror (1969),
  3. Mayflower/APL 60mm Model 814 (Japan, 1965), the one that started it all!

I cut way back for a three reasons: 

  1. ​Getting older and I didn’t want to burden my kith and kin with the undo responsibility and burden of getting rid of them, plus I wanted to save them from the landfill.
  2. I decided to sell my house and move into a condo in a multi-story building so less storage space and stairs/elevator necessitated fewer and smaller scopes.
  3. I came to the realization that at heart and from the beginning and most of my 60 years in the hobby, I am primarily an observer, not a collector. I really got into collecting on from a happenstance trip to a thrift store, and coincidently discovering this forum in 2012. Those two things started a decade of Classic Telescope Collecting mania, or CTC syndrome, an affliction which I presume many of you possess, admittedly or not.

 

Which three out of your collection would you keep, and what would it take to go down to just three classics?

Takahashi FS-102

TMB LZOS 80mm f6

Questar Standard 90mm with BB/Zerodur


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#48 ericb760

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Posted 04 November 2024 - 09:19 PM

You should replace the 277 on your list with it!.. I know I would.

Maybe, but the 277 is just so aesthetically pleasing to look at...
 

Meade227

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#49 Terra Nova

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Posted 05 November 2024 - 07:35 AM

Not fair! All of my scopes are Classics so I guess 7 to 9 is OK for me. 

 

I kinda liked having 7 and that's what I had before I was ruined by joining this forum. grin.gif

That’s a reasonable number. ;)


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#50 Terra Nova

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Posted 05 November 2024 - 07:54 AM

Well, I don't count my 2 Display Scopes -- the Mogey 3 & Tinsley 6 -- so it's still a good (tough!) question.

It’s all about periodically re-evaluating things as uses, needs, and abilities change. Kinda like life. :lol:


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