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Over the past three years, we have met a number of the 'classics' regulars with the monthly restart of the thread. Of those, we have also met several of the past and present mods, bringing us to the December restart. I asked current forum moderator, Jared about his start and interest in our hobby and he had this to share.
"I am just old enough to remember the launch of the last manned mission to the moon. I think that’s what started it all for me, seeing humans learning about and even trying to explore beyond our own planet at the age of four. Even then, I knew it was something special. Like many Apollo era babies, I have always been fascinated with space. My first view through a telescope was at the age of eight when a neighbor of mine—a science fiction writer who wrote under the name of James Tiptree Jr—bought a Celestron C8 for herself and showed me the planets. I have been looking through and taking photographs with telescopes every chance I get ever since.
For me, classics are mostly just the telescopes I grew up with, from that first C8 I got to look through in 1975 onwards. I eventually bought a 1970’s era C8 of my own complete with storage footlocker, guide scope, camera accessories, etc. I spent a ridiculous number of frustrating nights with that C8 trying to learn how to guide it well enough to get a sharp exposure with hypered Techpan film. Never had success, but I learned a lot--about both telescopes, photography, and dedication to craft. I still think that the autoguider is the single greatest invention ever for amateur astronomers. Today, I own or use four telescopes that could be considered classics. The oldest (to me--not to the maker) is my Celestron C5 pictured below. It was a wedding gift from my wife, and I have yet to find an SCT with better optics. It still gets routine use in the back yard when I just need a quick break from the terrestrial routine.
In addition to the C5, I also have a late 90's Astro-Physics 130mm EDF that is used almost exclusively as a visual instrument these days, though I originally bought it for deep sky astrophotography. It rode on a Losmandy GM8 for years, but eventually got matched up with an AP Mach1 mount. You can see it here setup in front of Chabot Space and Science Center's largest dome.
My other two classics aren't really mine, but I have the privilege of using them sometimes. They are the Alvan Clark and Sons 8" and the Brashear 20" at Chabot, named Leah and Rachel respectively. Leah is probably the most beautiful telescope I have ever gotten to use, all brass and lacquer. And the 20", Rachel... Wow. That's what comes to mind when someone says, "telescope", right? I have been a volunteer at Chabot since 2007 and you can still find me out on the observing deck on most clear Friday and Saturday evenings sharing my joy in exploring the night sky with whoever is willing to listen, even if these days I usually have more wires, batteries, cameras, and computers than could possibly be considered acceptable on this forum.
The basic guideline for this thread is to list ads and auctions for classic/vintage scopes and associated accessories that others may be interested in. Do not post your own ads or the ads of your friends, this includes items you may be trying to sell for someone else. We request that you do not post photos from ads. If you must have some reference to a photo in the post, post a link to the photo, not the photo itself. Concentrate on the item for sale, and not the seller.
Please post a live link to the item. Do not post "PM me for the link".Short discussions can take place about the items listed. When quoting a post, edit the quoted post to include only the part you are replying to. Do not post the entire ad text, or large blocks of it, without permission from the author. Keep on topic, please!
Buyer Beware- CN is not responsible for any of the ads or auctions posted here or their content. There are some scams floating around, so do your homework before pursuing any ad.
and this note from the moderators
Let's remember everybody, there's no one place that has all the best-used scope finds just as there's no one place that never has anything. All have something. No need to beat subjective matter, whatever the topic, into the ground. For the sake of all of us who love the classic forum, please keep moving the thread forward. Remember that many of your fellow forum members are already vintage themselves. Instead of restating your opinions over and over, consider sharing something new, insightful, or otherwise constructive to the topic at hand.
