refractor2345

For me, it was a 70/700 refractor nice and easy, but what scope did you start with? (P.S. I don't want the Refractor vs Reflector fight again!)

16 hours ago, Peter Drew said:

220mm F12.5

A 220mm F/12.5!? That must have been really heavy! Did you make it or bought it?

17 hours ago, John said:

I forgot that I still have this one !

F/13.3 60mm - my 1960's Tasco achromat on it's rather wobbly alt-azimuth mount and with .965 eyepieces !

Optically its actually very nice scope

My old TAL 100 RT was a nice scope, but at F/10, possibly a little short for this thread ?:

This is currently my longest refractor. 130mm F/9.2 triplet apochromat:

 

 

 

Wow, That is big, and no, f/10 is clearly a long scope, I would say most portable 130mm telescope is that f/9.2! The limit is about f/9. I also love that mount of the TAL 100 RT, It looks really nice on that telescope!

So, as the title explains I need a mount for my 70mm F/10 refractor, It has a fork mount (Alt-az) and the tripod head fell with crash to the ground. So, it wobbles a lot and it causes frustration to even point at Jupiter, I don't want to throw It away, It is a nice scope and my first scope, so I need some easy mounts to make. There are some threads (Forums) but I would like to make a custom mount!

7 hours ago, Stu said:

Vixen 150ED f9

Wow, That was a beast! How did it perform to the TAL?

4 hours ago, GalaxyGael said:

That's what I want for visual someday, the most perfect optics, or maybe the fs 60q for adaptability. Lovely. 

Yes, the 60mm's are very underrated they perform good, they are transportable and one one of the best optics!

11 hours ago, John said:

Hello and welcome to the forum

There are quite a few fans of the long refractor on here who will chime in soon I expect.

For me, this one was just a bit too long and heavy - a 150mm F/12. I had dreams of being like the Victorian observers, at the end of a large, long elegant instrument.

The scope, though excellent, was just too much of a handful and needed a very heavy duty mount. Once setup it was there for the night. A nice idea but it turned out to be a little impractical. Really a scope of this type needs to be on a permanent mounting in an observatory I think.

It was fun for a while though

Now my longest refractors are a more modest F/9 and F/9.2.

 

 

Thanks for the welcome! And yes, that scope belong in a observatories!

12 hours ago, johninderby said:

Here is Big Red my homebuilt 100mm f/13 refractor using Japanese Carton optics. 

And my ScopeTech 80 f/15. A fine new Japanese scope in the classic style.

That f//15 must be heavy and views must be awesome! If anyone mentioned a telescope, this would come in my mind!

I wanted a thread for the long refractor (f/9 or more!) because it is linked to me. I remember when when my grandad bought me a 70mm f/10 scope, the moon was crystal sharp, Jupiter showing its band in some detail, and, most important of all, no CA. (You know there was a little bit of CA but not much to ruin the experience) And so I thought to see your story of the long refractor, so post it below! ( I also had a 60mm f/11.5-ish telescope!)