What was your first Scope

[Kai]

After seeing Trevors picture of his first scope i was wondering what was your first scope ??

Mine was a Celestron Firstscope 114 eq. (now donated to my brother who has deep dark Devon skies )

[Jamie]

My first scope was a Meade LX10 8" Schmidt Cassegrain.

Not a bad way to start out in this hobby if i must say so myself....

[Cloudgazer]

My current scope is my first scope.. a SkyWatcher Skyliner 200 dob

Scott

[jaspa]

Celestron PowerSeeker 127, and still current scope (still new to this)

Skywatcher 200 HEQ5 on the shopping list.

[GordonCopestake]

ST80, cracking little 'scopes. 80mm f/5

[geppetto]

Home made 3" F8 Dob.

That's it in my avatar

[lunator]

Celestron Powerseeker 114.

Now belongs to my nephew.

Cheers

ian

[Greg]

Years ago I had a Tasco from Argos...

But the wife bought me my first "Proper" Telescope for something to do whilst recovering from a motorcycle accident..

An ETX-70...

[Saso]

ED80 and I still have it and I still use it.

Saso

[dazza1639]

Years ago I had a Tasco from Argos...

But the wife bought me my first "Proper" Telescope for something to do whilst recovering from a motorcycle accident..

An ETX-70...

Snap,

My first scope was a cheapo from argos when I was a kid, but I did get some good views of the moon & saturn through it, I've just dug it out of the loft recently, stripped it down and cleaned it and passed it on to my 10 year old nephew who loves looking at the moon through it.

Then, a few years ago my wife bought me my first proper telescope a Skyhawk 114 which was great and has now found a good new home to make way for the NS8 GPS.

Darren

[russ]

Tasco 50mm AltAz refractor circa 1983.........loved it to bits. Never used any scope since half as much as I used the Tasco.

[Kain]

Tasco Galaxsee 4.5 inch - Which I still have.

I use it for solar stuff now.

Kain

[SteveL]

ETX90EC for me, which I really must sell soon ("Yes dear, of course the money from the ETX will go towards a holiday...")

[Whippy]

TAL 150P which was sold only recently. Definately a case of function over form but had it's own charm and a joy to use. As the saying goes 'you don't know a good thing 'till you lose it'.

[maroon bells]

Tasco 60mm refractor, like someone else said good on the moon and saturn/jupiter.

[John]

Mine was a Japanese Tasco 60mm F13.3 refractor 1960's vintage in a wooden trunk which I bought 2nd hand for £45.00 in 1981. I've still got it and my son uses it now. We had it out recently and used some decent eyepieces on Saturn and some double stars - it provides very good images - Tasco must have been making good optics in those days.

Including the Tasco and the 2 other scopes I currently have, I have owned 18 scopes since 1981 - frightening :shock:

John

[SteelRat]

ST120 - probly shoulda kept it too.

[themos]

My current one , chinese Celestron "PowerSeeker" (my a**e) 114EQ, a 4.5" Newtonian on an EQ1 mount.

[GazOC]

I had a 50mm refractor on a shaky alt/az when I was a kid, I remember it being a pretty frustrating experience with only a few fleeting views on the Moon and planets.

My first 'proper' scope was a 8" f6 Dob, I still think it was a pretty good choice.

[barkis]

My first foray into owning a telescope was a gift as a birthday present. I have forgotton at what age, but it turned out to be a load of thingy.

It was a 50mm refractor and I could not see a star through it, the moon was a splodge where nothing could be identified. My astronomy aspirations almost died forever because of that piece of junk. I managed to keep my disappointment secret from the relative who got it for me, and I also managed to prevent anyone else using it.

Ron.

[MikeD]

Aldi 3" reflector about three years ago, pants but did the job of getting me interested.

[daz]

A Celestron Explorerscope, about 3 years ago now.

Saw Saturn through it and that was it! Hooked for life

Now, sadly, it has passed on to the great ATM's in the sky.....

[hairymunky]

Mines was a 4.5" cat which I bought back in the 80s from a place in Glasgow.

It came complete with an Equatorial mount, and a mains driven motor drive

(which gave me a few jolts on some damp nights!!!).

That little scope got me really interested in astronomy, and I did get some

good moon shots with my old Pentax P30 through it.

Had it right up until last year, when I gave it to my young brother-in-law

(minus the clock drive - don't want to get the blame of electrocuting him!),

who's tickled pink with it

[Black Shuck]

After about 25 years of casual observing with my Dad's 8x40 binos I bought my current scope the C8N-GT

Bill£

[James]

My first scope was a Coulter Odyssey Compact 10.1" Dob bought back in 1986. Its sitting at my folks place up in Scotland and hasn't been used for a while. Proper collimation is vitually impossible as the secondary is essentially fixed andd the mirror's coatings are so degraded that my 4" refractor shows objects much brighter. The focuser is utterly basic but the eyepiece that came with it is one of my favourites. In its heyday it showed me my first galaxies and it ws a beast back in the 80's.

I've toyed with the idea of recoating the mirror and upgrading the focuser and even bought a Crayford for it but I don't think the cardboard tube will cope nor will I get the time to do it.

James