Started with a 60mm Refractor?

"Jon Isaacs" wrote in message
...
I wonder how many of you who post and lurk here started with a 60mm
refractor
or something similar? I would like to see a show of hands, lurkers can
Email
me privately...


Tasco 60mm , 700mm fl. Bought at a discount in 1962 from Buffums department
store because of a dented tube. It was delivered that Christmas into my
eager eight year old hands. I still have it today and use it for eclipse
photography. (its been to Mexico and Bolivia) After all of these years, the
only original part left is the (excellent) objective and cell. It now has a
homemade baffled tube with a unitron focuser, and lives on the side of my 4"
Jaegers refractor. Other than the Moon, my most vivid early memory of
observing with it was seeing a surface marking on a tiny but sharp Mars.

Jeff Schroeder

Jon Isaacs wrote:

I wonder how many of you who post and lurk here started with a 60mm refractor
or something similar? I would like to see a show of hands, lurkers can Email
me privately...

Yep. Tasco 60mm refractor with three .965" eyepieces (20mm, 12.5mm and
6mm I think). Shakey alt/az mount. Not a great 'scope but it got me
hooked - Saturn's rings have a habit of doing that it seems.

Also saw Jupiter's moons, M42, M45, M31 and bugger all else.

Had that 'scope for about ten years before I moved into an area with too
much light pollution and my interest waned. Then I moved again to a
darker area and my interest rekindled with a vengence. Bought myself an
Orion Optics (UK) Europa 250 Newt (superb 'scope) and gave the Tasco to
a friend. Subsequently bought a SkyWatcher 80mm ST refractor and a
SkyWatcher 150mm achromat. Currently thinking about replacing the 150
with an OMC140 for planetary stuff.

Where does the time go? More to the point, where does the -money- go?

Jim
--
Find me at http://www.ursaminorbeta.co.uk AIM/iChatAV: JCAndrew2
"We deal in the moral equivalent of black holes, where the normal
laws of right and wrong break down; beyond those metaphysical
event horizons there exist ... special circumstances" - Use Of Weapons

John,
For a kid who grew up in Jersey City, what turning point in astronomy took
place there between Al and Roland? I am curious.

It's all part of a master plan conceived and orchestrated by some guys
named Al & Roland on a dark and stormy night in a run down factory in
Jersey City, NJ.


Bill Bambrick
41 N, 73 W, 95 ASL

I did pass through a 60mm refractor but started with a 40mm fixed
eyepiece refractor that
showed lunar craters and maria. The scope had a terrestrial view and
thus was not an
astro scope.

Had one of those too. Dad took me down to the ballfield, placed it on top of
the car roof, and we saw the rings of Saturn. I remember extending the
taple-top tripod legs with replacement broom handles and masking tape so I
could use it without the car.

Next was a Tasco 4.5" reflector about 1967 I think, and one still sees a very
similar model today. The equatorial mount was probably too small in
retrospect, but it wasn't too bad if you didn't extend the wooden tripod legs.


I mostly use a 80mm shorttube today, and so I haven't moved up much in terms of
aperture. But the quality of the optics and eyepieces sure have improved.

jt

On 07 Nov 2004 12:58:11 GMT, (Jb2269) wrote:

John,
For a kid who grew up in Jersey City, what turning point in astronomy took
place there between Al and Roland? I am curious.



John's just playing around. Consider it a humorous and tongue-in-cheek
reference to Al Nagler, the founder of Televue (www.televue.com) and
Roland Christen, founder of Astro-Physics (www.astro-physics.com). The
refractors manufactured by these superb optial craftsmen sparked the
resurgence of the refractor in recent years, particularly those of the
apochromatic variety.

Televue is based in Chester, NY, and Astro-Physics is in Rockford, IL.

Cheers,

- Craig

"Eddie Trimarchi" wrote in message
...
60mm? What luxury! My first telescope (and I use the term loosely now)
was a Tasco 30x30mm. I recieved this scope as a gift many years ago and

30mm? Luxury! I used to have a toilet roll with a magnifying glass stuck
to
one end and then because nothing was in focus, I had to imagine what the
objects looked like!

--

Regards,

Eddie Trimarchi
~~~~~~~~~~~
http://www.astroshed.com
http://www.fitsplug.com

You should have used a paper towel roll. lol

Best regards,
Bill

On Sun, 07 Nov 2004 15:19:26 GMT, John Steinberg
wrote:


There's a lot more to this story - far too much for a posting here -
but keep your eye out for my book, to be published by Penguin Press in
the fall of '08.


LOL!!! Great post John!

I thought TV was based out of Suffern, but the website says:

Tele Vue Optics, Inc., 32 Elkay Dr., Chester, NY 10918.

- Craig

"Craig Levine" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 07 Nov 2004 15:19:26 GMT, John Steinberg
wrote:


There's a lot more to this story - far too much for a posting here -
but keep your eye out for my book, to be published by Penguin Press in
the fall of '08.


LOL!!! Great post John!

I thought TV was based out of Suffern, but the website says:

Tele Vue Optics, Inc., 32 Elkay Dr., Chester, NY 10918.

- Craig

They've been in Pearl River, and Spring Valley, too, in olden times...

Gypsies!

"Ken S. Tucker" wrote in message
om...
I thought of moving up to a motorized EQ mount,
but I'm worried about the motor vibration up-
setting the pure image. Certainly some vibration
would leak into the mounting and destablize the
image.
I figure even a little bit of vibration will
screw resolution. Comments welcome, is that a
valid concern?

no

On 6 Nov 2004 17:59:03 -0800, (Ken S. Tucker) wrote:

I thought of moving up to a motorized EQ mount,
but I'm worried about the motor vibration up-
setting the pure image. Certainly some vibration
would leak into the mounting and destablize the
image.
I figure even a little bit of vibration will
screw resolution. Comments welcome, is that a
valid concern?

It certainly is possible for tracking motor vibration to couple into the mount.
There were a number of cases of this with Losmandy mounts a few years ago (when
they were using stepper motors) and I have seen it from time to time, especially
on some cheap mounts and on overloaded mounts. However, in all probability you
will never see this problem- I wouldn't worry too much about it.

_________________________________________________

Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com