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Interesting refractor incoming...

A McEwan

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A McEwan

A McEwan

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I'm beginning to get excited now. A few weeks ago I saw an advert for a "Celestron (Vixen) 90mm f/14.4 achromat" on CN, for sale in the States. I'd heard of the good reputation that scopes produced during the Celestron & Vixen partnership years had, and I was also interested simply because it's an unusual 'scope that I hadn't heard of before. Plus it's a long focus achro, and I've been tempted by one recently.

1300mm focal length, Japanese-made, Vixen doublet, collimatable cell, with rings, 6x30 finderscope and 1.25" visual back and diagonal. Jupiter anyone? Some double stars calling out, perhaps? Luna? Add a filter for some solar "work"?

Well I see it's now cleared UK customs so it should possibly be in my hands sometime this week! I'll put some pictures up if we ever get decent sunny days again, and will let you know how first light goes if we ever get a clear night too!

Anyone else here had one of these 'scopes?

Ant :)

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John

John

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That sounds a very interesting scope Ant.

I've been following Vixens stuff since the mid 1980's and I've not come across a 90mm F/14.4, yet.

Celestron used to sell a 4" F/14.7 during the 1980's which was Vixen-made so they obviously had a wider range than just the scopes they sold under the Vixen brand.

I'll be waiting for your report (and pics I hope !) with anticipation :)

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A McEwan

A McEwan

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Yep, it's decked out in Celestron livery all over and the seller says he's only ever seen one other like it. Can't wait to look it over and start observing through a long focus achro of medium aperture. Here's the pic of the identity label on the scope body:

Ant

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John

John

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I hope to set it up on the GP tomorrow and get some snaps. Here's hoping that it's a decent day!

Ant :)

Look forward to seeing those Ant :)

That's quite a refractor collection you are building up there - there's something about them isn't there :happy1:

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A McEwan

A McEwan

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The damp weather has prevented me setting up a mount outside to photograph the new 'scope, but here are some shots taken indoors. That tape measure is reading 140cm with the drawtube racked halfway out! The pics hopefully show the condition of the objective as pristine. If not take my word for it - it's better than the pics show!

The focuser is very nice with hardly any wiggle at all. I will clean the drawtube though as it looks like there's a spot or two of oxidisation on it. I may relube it too as there is a small part of the travel which feels looser than the rest.

The supplied prism diagonal showed the collimation to be off, but testing it straight-through and with my Astrotech dielectric show it to be pretty much perfect. I suspect the prism is at fault.

I love the end cap. It is easy to remove and replace with the dewshield in place and fits just right. The interior holds a sachet of dessicant granules.

The tube body has some marks but I'll fill in what I can with "runny" gloss black enamal and after a few days will go over it with my Super Resin Polish and Ultra Deep Shine polish :) which have proved very successful in the past on black tubes. The stickers sadly are peeling a bit so I've contacted Celestron to see if they can supply suitable period replacements. Anyone else had any luck with this?

Anyway, here are the pics to get you drooling. What they don't show is the sheer presence that the telescope has!

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Neil English

Neil English

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Hi Ant,

Say, that's a nice 'scope!:)

Looks like it arrived in good nick after a long journey across the Atlantic.

I think these Vixen lenses are very special. I'll be keen to see how it behaves under the stars.

In the meantime; congratulations on what is quite simply a beautiful acquisition.

Best wishes,

Neil.:)

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A McEwan

A McEwan

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Thanks Neil! I can't believe what a good buy it was. It included a third ring, which is heavier duty than the ones shown and has 1/4x20 thread at the bottom as well as a 1/4x20 fixing adapter at the top. It fits my Lunt 60 perfectly and attaches to the AZ3 top plate. Nice.

The fact that the scope doesn't really need any work done to it is great too - apart from some very simple cosmetic care and the addition of a nice set of alu focus knobs.

In fact, I'm off to sit and look at it again for a while. The pics on here are teasing me as well as you lot! :)

Ant :)

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John

John

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It's a wonderful thing Ant :)

Some mechanical similarities with my decade old Vixen ED102SS, including that nice dust cap arrangement.

I'm going to have a look through my old US astro mags and Celestron brochures to see if I can find it listed - as I said in my previous post, it's not one I've come across before.

Congratulations - hope you get 1st light real soon so that you can post the results - it's going to be a cracking binary star scope, amongst many other things :)

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johninderby

johninderby

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It was also available under the Antares brand name.

Found this quote:

"The F14 version has excellent colour correction, and in my opinion, would stand up against the 80mm ED form Orion or SkyWatcher. The drawback is - it's a freakin long tube!"

John

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