60 replies to this topic

[zjc26138]

For many many years I've wanted an AP telescope. An endless amount of raving reviews and pictures to back the reviews up. Well today I finally aquired an AP scope. I did have to sell my trusty TMB130SS and Lunt 50 to aquire the beast of a telescope.

 

It is a 6" F/8 from the late 80s and honestly it looks brand spanking new, as if it were unearthed from a time capsule.  I cannot wait to get it under clear skies later this week!

 

This is largest scope I've owned (save for (2) 10" dobs) and I really cannot believe how big a 6" scope is in person! 

 

 

Clear skies!

Zach

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[Jay_Reynolds_Freeman]

I have a 1987 pre-EDT-glass Astro-Physics 6-inch f/8 triplet, quite likely almost the same model as yours. I suspect you will be well pleased with your purchase -- mine is an excellent instrument for visual observing (I am not an imager and never have been). F/8 is slow enough that you may (if you wish) use simple eyepieces with few air/glass interfaces for high-magnification views of low-contrast objects, like fine planetary detail or Sirius B. F/8 is fast enough that a two-inch barrel eyepiece with a field lens that fills the barrel will get a nice wide field of view.

 

One problem I found with mine is that it is nose-heavy -- that triplet is thick and weighs quite a lot. In consequence, the OTA balances near the upper end of the tube, so the height of the eyepiece varies through a considerable range as you change from viewing objects near the zenith to ones near the horizon. If you are primarily into imaging, this may not be a problem, and your imaging equipment may weigh enough to move the OTA center of gravity at least a little bit nearer the center of the tube. If not, one useful accessory is a heavy weight attached to a tube ring, which is in turn fastened around the OTA as close to the focuser end as you can get it. I have a small-loaf bread pan cast full of lead in such a setup, and it makes a great deal of difference in using the telescope. (Note to all: Be cautious about working with lead, it is a cumulative poison and a neurotoxin, and we amateur astronomers are weird enough already.)

 

A second finder is also useful in visual observing with a large, cumbersome instrument.

 

 

Clear sky ...

[Scott in NC]

Very nice, Zach—congrats! It looks like you're in for a treat. We need more pics though!

[Keith Rivich]

A buddy of mine has a 7" AP. Its quite the handful to set up, but well worth the effort!

[BRCoz]

Congrats Zach.  Your still young to give it many work outs under the night sky.  Enjoy it.

[The Ardent]

After these many years , now you realize the entire point of amateur astronomy is to own an Astro-Physics refractor. 

 

Not a museum piece, but a real starlight collector. 

For many many years I've wanted an AP telescope. An endless amount of raving reviews and pictures to back the reviews up. Well today I finally aquired an AP scope. I did have to sell my trusty TMB130SS and Lunt 50 to aquire the beast of a telescope.

 

It is a 6" F/8 from the late 80s and honestly it looks brand spanking new, as if it were unearthed from a time capsule.  I cannot wait to get it under clear skies later this week!

 

This is largest scope I've owned (save for (2) 10" dobs) and I really cannot believe how big a 6" scope is in person! 

 

 

Clear skies!

Zach

[Jay_Reynolds_Freeman]

After these many years , now you realize the entire point of amateur astronomy is to own an Astro-Physics refractor.

No, you have to have at least three of them.

[Psion]

A real astronomer must have at least ten telescopes, and if we count binoculars at least 20

[Stewc14]

I consider the scope easy to handle.. mine has good optics but no one wanted it when I tried to sell. I didn’t even get an offer…

[The Ardent]

I did.
I did.
So I am pleased with the OP for doing something impressive.

No, you have to have at least three of them.

[Wildetelescope]

For many many years I've wanted an AP telescope. An endless amount of raving reviews and pictures to back the reviews up. Well today I finally aquired an AP scope. I did have to sell my trusty TMB130SS and Lunt 50 to aquire the beast of a telescope.

 

It is a 6" F/8 from the late 80s and honestly it looks brand spanking new, as if it were unearthed from a time capsule.  I cannot wait to get it under clear skies later this week!

 

This is largest scope I've owned (save for (2) 10" dobs) and I really cannot believe how big a 6" scope is in person! 

 

 

Clear skies!

Zach

Do you know the year that the scope was made?   I am curious if this was one of the ones that used the Mystical NASA;-) glass in its lens.   those date to around 85-87 if I remember correctly(someone correct me if I am wrong).   Later 6 inch ones like mine were F9.   You can tell by the Serial number on the lens sell I think, or send the number to someone at AP and they can tell you.  Always interested in the history of these old scopes.

 

Cheers!

 

JMD

[zjc26138]

Do you know the year that the scope was made?   I am curious if this was one of the ones that used the Mystical NASA;-) glass in its lens.   those date to around 85-87 if I remember correctly(someone correct me if I am wrong).   Later 6 inch ones like mine were F9.   You can tell by the Serial number on the lens sell I think, or send the number to someone at AP and they can tell you.  Always interested in the history of these old scopes.

 

Cheers!

 

JMD

Is the serial number on the back or side of the lens cell? I'm not seeing anything on the front.

[Drothgeb]

I have one of the old 142mm F7, “NASA” glass scopes. It was one of the first in the Starfire line. I bought it back in 1989, and it was my first real refractor. So much for starting out with an 80mm scope.

 

Actually bought it with hopes of shooting the 1991 Solar Eclipse with it. After getting it, I realized it was too big to haul, and I bought a Tele Vue Oracle to use instead. It worked great, still have both of them.

 

I still use the Starfire regularly. It does have a touch of CA, but it’s pretty easy to correct. Just DPAC’d it a couple of weeks ago. Really good in green and red, not too bad in blue. I mostly use it for visual and narrow-band imaging. 

[Phillip Creed]

The Wilderness Center Astronomy Club in Wilmot, Ohio, has one in their observatory.  I have a lot of fond memories looking through it and while it's not up to modern apo standards it was good enough to start me on the journey into deep sky astrophotography.

Visually the 6" f/8 1980s Christen Triplets -- like all Astrophysics refractors -- are just STUPID sharp.  It's the only instrument I've ever used where I couldn't see a flaw in the star test.  And on a steady night it will take CRAZY amounts of magnification.

It's also a great deep-sky instrument under dark skies.  Yes, it's only 6" of aperture but it really punches above its own weight for DSOs.  The f/8 also makes it rather forgiving on wide field eyepieces.  Having a Tele Vue or Pentax eyepiece will help, yes, but it's not a have-to to get sharp edges.  "Everything's great at f/8", as I like to say.  A max-field 2" eyepiece (~46mm field stop, think 41mm Pan or 40ES68) with 1,200mm focal length gives you a 2.2°-FOV.

Congrats on purchasing this scope.  It is bar none the best value among Astrophysics refractors.

Clear Skies,

Phil

Edited by Phillip Creed, 17 March 2025 - 09:16 AM.

[Wildetelescope]

Is the serial number on the back or side of the lens cell? I'm not seeing anything on the front.

mine were on the inside of the lens on the wall of the cell.  If you shine a light around to look for it you can see it.  I take an image with my phone and blow it up.  I will see if I can find a picture of one of mine.   I have them buried in my couple hundred thousand images taken since the invention of the cell phone, lol.

 

JMD

[Wildetelescope]

I have one of the old 142mm F7, “NASA” glass scopes. It was one of the first in the Starfire line. I bought it back in 1989, and it was my first real refractor. So much for starting out with an 80mm scope.

 

Actually bought it with hopes of shooting the 1991 Solar Eclipse with it. After getting it, I realized it was too big to haul, and I bought a Tele Vue Oracle to use instead. It worked great, still have both of them.

 

I still use the Starfire regularly. It does have a touch of CA, but it’s pretty easy to correct. Just DPAC’d it a couple of weeks ago. Really good in green and red, not too bad in blue. I mostly use it for visual and narrow-band imaging. 

 

 

I have one of the old 142mm F7, “NASA” glass scopes. It was one of the first in the Starfire line. I bought it back in 1989, and it was my first real refractor. So much for starting out with an 80mm scope.

 

Actually bought it with hopes of shooting the 1991 Solar Eclipse with it. After getting it, I realized it was too big to haul, and I bought a Tele Vue Oracle to use instead. It worked great, still have both of them.

 

I still use the Starfire regularly. It does have a touch of CA, but it’s pretty easy to correct. Just DPAC’d it a couple of weeks ago. Really good in green and red, not too bad in blue. I mostly use it for visual and narrow-band imaging. 

I pointed my 6 inch F9 at Venus a month or so ago, at ~290X, expecting to see some color.  I did not, BUT I will say that I am not particularly sensitive to CA and could have easily missed some lateral scatter in the blue.  I do image with the 6 inch and my 5 inch starfire of the same vintage.  If I separate color channels on Jupiter, for example, I see pretty tight focus for red and green and a bit more blur in the blue which is consistent with the multiple DPAC's for this vintage of scope.  For MY natural visual imaging train, clearly this close enough to apo that it does not matter:-)  YMMV.   As I understand it, the key to all these older scopes is that Roland worked really hard with his designs to minimize the spherochromatism, and to  shift the lateral color blurring into the blue where the eye is less sensitive.  And then of course perfect execution in creating the figure:-)  

 

JMD
 

[Spikey131]

OP:  How about some more pics?

[MJB87]

No, you have to have at least three of them.

OK

[Phil Cowell]

Welcome to the AP club. Folks tend to look after their AP scopes which tends to keep in good condition on the used market. 
How ever you choose to use it enjoy your scope.

 

For many many years I've wanted an AP telescope. An endless amount of raving reviews and pictures to back the reviews up. Well today I finally aquired an AP scope. I did have to sell my trusty TMB130SS and Lunt 50 to aquire the beast of a telescope.

 

It is a 6" F/8 from the late 80s and honestly it looks brand spanking new, as if it were unearthed from a time capsule.  I cannot wait to get it under clear skies later this week!

 

This is largest scope I've owned (save for (2) 10" dobs) and I really cannot believe how big a 6" scope is in person! 

 

 

Clear skies!

Zach

[zjc26138]

More pics!

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[zjc26138]

!

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[zjc26138]

1 more! 

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[Jeff B]

A nice vintage scope.  Well done!

 

So, you are in Ohio. 

 

So, I live in Ohio. 

 

So, I do DPAC and star testing. 

 

Sooooo......

 

Jeff

[Spikey131]

Cool, cool, cool.  Love the handle!

[Scott in NC]

That’s beautiful! And you absolutely must take up Jeff’s generous offer to meet up for DPAC testing.