60 replies to this topic

[grif 678]

I love to look through my vintage S&T magazines, and look at the telescope ads. They bring back fond memories from when I use to look at the same ads many years back.

The farthest back ones I can remember are the classic Edmund telescopes from their catalog, especially the 3 inch reflector and the 4 1/2 inch one.

From the S&T mags, the Celestron ads, especially the orange tube C-8 plus, which advanced to the Super C-8. Also the orange tube C-80, and the C-90 mak.

Then there are the two page Unitron ads in S&T, which I would take a magnifying glass and read them.

The Dynascope ads were really inviting. especially the pretty colored 8 SCT, which turned out to not be as good optically as it looked.

Parks had some very good looking ads, and some very great large telescopes.

I love looking at them all, many not mentioned, and even the large binocular ads.

I do not want to leave out Questar and Quantum.

[Astrojensen]

 

Which classic telescope ads bring back best nostalgic memories

That, I think, depends entirely on how old we are, and what magazines we first read when starting out in astronomy. 

 

 

Clear skies!

Thomas, Denmark

[jimr2]

Agree w/ Thomas, but also please don't leave out the Cave Astrola ads (especially since seeing them way back when in the magazines, I ended up buying one)!

 

-jim-

[saemark30]

Edmund Scientific was a marketing machine.

I wanted a 4" reflector.

Soon got their catalogs and longed for red tubed 3" and 4" refractors, Astroscan, and 6" and 8" reflectors on that innovative fork mount from the late 70s.

Even the RKE eyepieces were an innovation.

[John Huntley]

For me it is probably the Unitron and Coulter adverts from the Astronomy and Sky & Telescope magazines. Examples below. I just didn't know that such instruments were available to amateurs back then, having struggled to aspire to a 60mm Tasco refractor 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[bobhen]

I drooled over "all" the telescopes advertised in S & T back in the day. But Meade ran a double-page spread ad in the February 1978 S & T that showed all of their refractors up to 4-inches. That is the ad that got most of my attention. I mean, come on, look at that 4" F15 beauty!

 

As it turns out, some 46 years later I'm still mostly a refractor guy. 4 of the 5 telescopes I own are refractors. 

 

Bob

 

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[jgraham]

For me, this is an easy one... the annual Sears Wishbook! I just dreamed about the telescopes that they showed every year from about 1965 to 1975. Of particular interest was the 1972 Wishbook, page 141. This was the only year they listed the Sears branded Tasco 11T, my dream scope! It was my Red Ryder BB gun. Despite its staggering price of $79.99 (about $600 today) my parents bought it for me. It was a dream come true and it would be my constant companion for the next 20 years. I wore that poor thing out. I still have the telescope itself (now painted green) and it still catches starlight whenever I get a chance.

 

 

As it appears today...

 

 

The best Christmas gift I would ever receive.

 

Thanks Mom'n Dad, you did good.

 

[CHASLX200]

For me it is probably the Unitron and Coulter adverts from the Astronomy and Sky & Telescope magazines. Examples below. I just didn't know that such instruments were available to amateurs back then, having struggled to aspire to a 60mm Tasco refractor 

 

unitron.jpg

 

coulter-ad-768x1060.jpg

The U ad does it for me. Them blue coma monsters i was never crazy about.

[skygazer66WA]

Growing up in the late 1960s, I'd have to say Unitron, Questar, and Edmund Scientific (including their catalog) were my favorite telescope ads. The Jaegers ads in S&T were cool as well. In the '70s it would be Celestron.

[CHASLX200]

Back when i first got into scopes in 1976 it was the C8 and RV6 ads i saw the most. Unitron was already rolling over a slow death as the C8 took over by 1976.

[deSitter]

For me it was the Criterion ad for the RV-6 - it was affordable and the advertised features were all good things to have. It was also a very serious looking telescope. I read over the brochure who knows how many times. I would dream about resolving M13 and seeing the dark lane in a galaxy. I traded my 6344 for my friend's RV-6 and that was my only scope through college. I gave it to my friends who had an 11-year old kid. It had a supreme optical moment, the occultation of Mebsuta (epsilon Geminorum) by Mars in April 1976. Mars was only 7" of arc but I could clearly see maria and polar caps as it crept up on the star. Performed like a champ.

 

-drl

 

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[oldmanastro]

One favorite ad that brings nice memories from the mid 60s is the Unitron 3" Photo-equatorial refractor. The ad appeared in the Review of Popular Astronomy. The other ad was not from a magazine but from the Sears 1965 catalog. I worn out this page but now I am lucky to own each and everyone of these refractor scopes. Two of them (2 and 4) are with me since 1965 and 1967. The other two came in more recently. I use them all. Hey, they were "precision engineered" ! In fact, they have pretty good engineering and optics in them especially 1 and 2. If they had only included better eyepieces.

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Edited by oldmanastro, 05 November 2024 - 10:19 PM.

[deSitter]

One favorite ad that brings nice memories from the mid 60s is the Unitron 3" Photo-equatorial refractor. The ad appeared in the Review of Popular Astronomy. The other ad was not from a magazine but from the Sears 1965 catalog. I worn out this page but now I am lucky to own each and everyone of these refractor scopes. Two of them (2 and 4) are with me since 1965 and 1967. The other two came in more recently. I use them all. Hey, they were "precision engineered" ! In fact, they have pretty good engineering and optics in them especially 1 and 2. If they had only included better eyepieces.

And I own #2 - 600x! I'm going there next time it is out!

 

-drl

[oldmanastro]

And I own #2 - 600x! I'm going there next time it is out!

 

-drl

...and they were talking about 600x using the 4mm .965" Ramsden and 2x "achromatic" Barlow. I know I tried it back then. Maybe I'll do it again just for fun.

[deSitter]

...and they were talking about 600x using the 4mm .965" Ramsden and 2x "achromatic" Barlow. I know I tried it back then. Maybe I'll do it again just for fun.

You have to put the Barlow in front of the diagonal so it is probably more like 700x I'm there the next time it is out! Doing the whole drill, Barlow and 4mm HM eyepiece! Can't wait!

 

-drl

[RichA]

I love to look through my vintage S&T magazines, and look at the telescope ads. They bring back fond memories from when I use to look at the same ads many years back.

The farthest back ones I can remember are the classic Edmund telescopes from their catalog, especially the 3 inch reflector and the 4 1/2 inch one.

From the S&T mags, the Celestron ads, especially the orange tube C-8 plus, which advanced to the Super C-8. Also the orange tube C-80, and the C-90 mak.

Then there are the two page Unitron ads in S&T, which I would take a magnifying glass and read them.

The Dynascope ads were really inviting. especially the pretty colored 8 SCT, which turned out to not be as good optically as it looked.

Parks had some very good looking ads, and some very great large telescopes.

I love looking at them all, many not mentioned, and even the large binocular ads.

I do not want to leave out Questar and Quantum.

Dynascope, ads, Jaeger's two-page ads, which I pinned to a wall!  Unitron ad where a kid and his father were observing from a beach.  The Quantum 4 full-page ad, one most beautiful ads I've seen.  C14 ad seeing the size of a scope that was then unobtainable to me.  Clave eyepiece ads, .  Coulter ad where they guy is looking at the new telescope mirror.  Some of the stories in the mags were fascinating.  A guy's observatory with a five-inch Unitron.  The Sky & Tel planet finder and Astronomy magazine's attractive 1980s centre monthly map with star colours.

[Tom Axelsen]

I loved looking at all telescope ads in S&T or Astronomy in the first half of 1990’s, but one stand out and it is this ad from Astro-Physics

An A-P 155 or 180 mm EDT was in the top of my wish list back then. Several decades later I had the honor of being given a nice 130 StarFire EDT f:6 including its AP400 mount (from autumn 1995), so today I am the curator of one of my dream telescopes from back then.

 

Edited by Tom Axelsen, 06 November 2024 - 05:50 AM.

[jwheel]

The Coulter ads with the big Dobs.

[Terra Nova]

Questar, Sky and Telescope, 1969! 

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[grif 678]

Questar, Sky and Telescope, 1969! 

Like your rock collection too.

[Terra Nova]

Like your rock collection too.

Thank you  

[Terra Nova]

I loved looking at all telescope ads in S&T or Astronomy in the first half of 1990’s, but one stand out and it is this ad from Astro-Physics

An A-P 155 or 180 mm EDT was in the top of my wish list back then. Several decades later I had the honor of being given a nice 130 StarFire EDT f:6 including its AP400 mount (from autumn 1995), so today I am the curator of one of my dream telescopes from back then.

 

Was there ever a time when one could just call them up, pay the money, and expect a receive a telescope in a timely manner without waiting years? 

[Echolight]

Had to be Celestron SCT ads with all the beautiful ladies.

Meade with their labs guys.

 

Seemed like the only other brand I could identify by sight would have had to have been the beautiful Questars.

[ccwemyss]

Was there ever a time when one could just call them up, pay the money, and expect a receive a telescope in a timely manner without waiting years? 

I called them up in July of '84, paid a 50% deposit, waited six months and then made the final payment in January of '85. 6"f9 s/n 614.

 

That was before their reputation took off, and the OTA was really an ATM build with a Jaegers cell and focuser, a piece of Hastings tubing painted somewhat roughly, and a single baffle.

 

Chip W. 

[starman876]

Considering I have had or still have many of the scopes mentioned so far I can say I have enjoyed many nostalgic memories and hope to continue making many more memories.