Please, help identify a telescope

[assasincz]

Hi guys,

I don't know where I should post this exactly, but I need a bit of help identifying a telescope.

Picture attached. Thank you for your tips.

[JB80]

I think it might be a Jason Comet Chaser.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Jason+Comet+Chaser&sa=X&hl=en&sout=0&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&ei=gJd7UtScFMr30gW864GoAQ&ved=0CC8QsAQ&biw=1347&bih=871

[Cornelius Varley]

I think this one is made by Towa. 114mm catadioptric, 1000mm focal length. The focuser will have a barlow type lens built into it to correct the focal length of the telescope (Bird-Jones reflector).

Found this one http://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/13397570_towa-telescope-114-mm

[assasincz]

It seems its a Revue Catadioptric telescope, such as the one here: http://www.photoinfos.com/astronomie/Revue-Catadioptric-114mm.htm

Now the question for me is:

Would it be better than my Skywatcher 114/900 long-tube newtonian? (OTA considered)

Edited November 7, 2013 by assasincz

[Cornelius Varley]

I think I would keep the SW 114/900.

[Peter Drew]

Looks like a small Schmidt-Newtonian to me. 

[Cornelius Varley]

Looks like a small Schmidt-Newtonian to me. 

Its a Bird-Jones reflector. The secondary is attached to an optical window which makes it look a little like a Schmidt-Newtonian.

[John]

I think I would keep the SW 114/900.

I'd agree. I tried to collimate one of the Bird-Jones 114mm "catadioptrics" once and it was a nightmare because of the corrector lens inside the drawtube and the short focal length spherical primary. 

They were available under lots of brand names un the 1970's and 1980's including Tasco, Prinz, Revue, Greenkat, etc, etc.

They were one of what used to be termed "department store" telescopes. It wasn't a compliment ....

[Astrogeordie]

Those TOWA 114/1000mm instruments were once popular despite of their lower performance, compared to the "straight" 114/900mm Newtonian TOWA built as well. It was sold by companies like Bresser/BOB, Tasco ("13T"), Eschenbach and Revue which was the German equivalent of the "Prinz" brand of the Foto Quelle mail order company. They had a reflex finder that was in prinicple one of those dreadful 5x24 non-achromats, and as the tube you looked through using the finder was not parallel to the main scope, it was increadibly difficult to find anything. The corrector was in the draw tube, so the effective focal length changed when moving the focal plane. The same design was built as 76/600mm table top telescope (I have one in my collection) and as 152/1300mm instrument which was quite expensive and not very successful. The front plate, while looking like a corrector, was indeed an uncoated flat.

 

[Hans Koblet]

I have such a telescope by Eschenbach Germany from 1984. I only now hear that it is a Bird-Jones-type, never heard that before. Last year I invested some money in upgrading that telescope :

 - Recoating by Orion Optics GB
 - 90° angle adapter
 - mounted on heavy wooden, massive stand ( wooden tripod gone )
 - motor cable got attached a new 3-pole electric plug ( cable from 1984 had only 2-pole )
 - two different, better Polbock screws, especially the tiny useless one got replaced with massive screw

[Hans Koblet]

... and above all : buy very good 0.965'' eyepieces with long focuses and you would be fine. It's quite astonishing what you get : a clear, stable, sharp picture. Don't expect too much, but good within limits, max. 60x I would recommend.

New eyepieces : Antares 25mm, Harry Siebert 17mm / 70°, Vixen 20mm, Harry Siebert 50mm