What telescope is this ?

[Jenn82]

Hello, would someone kindly be able to identify what model of Danubia telescope this is please. 

 

Thanks in advance  

[Cornelius Varley]

A quick search on google brings this one up Danubia RET50 . It has an aperture of 114mm and a focal length of 1000mm. The optical tube is much shorter than its focal length suggests that it has a spherical mirror and a corrector lens built into the focuser to correct the spherical aberrations and achieve the 1000mm focal length. The optical design is known as a Jones-Bird telescope. 

[Jenn82]

I have just bought it without really knowing much about it!! Thank you for your quick reply. I am a beginner. Is this a good telescope to begin with? 

[Cornelius Varley]

Mmm, probably not.

Also sold under the brand names of Towa and Revue.

[Pig]

Hiya Jen,
It is not a scope I have come across before and until you try it out you will not really know.....  You have taken the sensible route without spending a fortune before you know if stargazing is for you. Please let us all know how you get on with it

[Cosmic Geoff]

Is this a good telescope? No idea.

See this earlier post "Problem with lens"

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/281633-problem-with-lens/#comment-3083201

in particular the review link from 'John', and also click on the Danubia RET50 link above, and get a Google translation into English. Then draw your own conclusions. 

[Jenn82]

Well I only paid £55 (too much?) for it so if it is not great I have not lost too much! I have been looking through a lot of the conversations on this site and have found them all to be very informative and useful. I will pick it up and try it.  I realise more research is needed on my part and this is only the beginning of what I hope to be a great new hobby! Thank you  

[Cornelius Varley]

Does the photo show all that you bought ?

[spaceman_spiff]

Where are the counterweights?

[Jenn82]

No there is a box of different lenses and attachments. I am beginning to think I may have wasted money!! 

[D4N]

I would always be concerned about buying a scope if the person selling it has it set up for looking at the ground!

 

However it is entirely possible it could be a nice little scope once you get it set up properly, there are a lot of bits wrong or missing in the image but hopefully they are included and the seller just didn't know how to put it all together.

[spaceman_spiff]

10 minutes ago, Jenn82 said:

No there is a box of different lenses and attachments. I am beginning to think I may have wasted money!! 

I see, hopefully there will be a counterweight bar and weights. Without them, observing will be at best very difficult and at worse dangerous!.

As others have said, problems have been reported with the Jones-Bird telescope. I have tried a friends scope which had similar optics to yours, it was good on the Moon and I could see the Andromeda galaxy.

HTH Dan

[Jenn82]

It was sold in an auction house so it was them who put it together and not sure how many telescope experts work in auction houses!!  I did see all attachments in the box. My next post may be " where is the best place to sell a Danubia RET 50!"

[Peter Drew]

To be honest, the scope is not one an experienced amateur would recommend a beginner. Having said that, once sorted out it will be far better than nothing and will give you an introduction to astronomy. Gallileo would have given his right arm for one!. You have the full weight of SGL advice to help you as and when needed. 

[F15Rules]

This looks very like a Towa made scope. Towa (series known as Circle T as their logo was a circle with a letter T inside it) were a Japanese mass producer/seller of various types of scope in the 60s/70s/80s mainly. Their refractor optics were good, sometimes excellent. I don't know about their reflectors, but they should be ok, however the fancy lens-inside-the focuser arrangement worries me a little. 

If you have all the parts though it should be fine to get you going, as Peter says..when you're ready to go to the next stage, ask for some advice on this forum and you will be sure to get some great advice.

Good luck and let us know how you get on:-)

Dave

[ronin]

As it appears to be a bird-jones design - the internal barlow - then the easy answer is to limit your viewing to low and medium powers. If it is 114mm then i suggest nothing above 100x, but preferably 80x or below.

Immaterial of what the box etc says this is fair and is likely the most used area of magnification. There are really very few objects up there where 120x or 150x will be better or more use then 80x. Seems strange when scopes are advertised on some slightly magnification cliams.

Saturn comes to mind as one object where 120x would be nice, but you can ignore that as Saturn is not in view until the middle/end of 2017. Mars just forget - it will not be back for 2 years. M1, Crab nebula, would be better at say 150x but you need more aperture. So I think you will find a maximum of 80x fine for many of the reaslstic objects. When Jupiter appears in the evening next year (March time) then 50x and 60x will be enough to see that well. 80x may be better but you will find that 60x shows quite a bit.

Will advise that you use individual eyepieces, not an eyepiece and a barlow. With the internal barlow a second one is not advised and also keep the number of bits of glass down. Maybe pick up a plossl or three at say 30mm, 20mm and 15mm, if there are none in amongst the bits.

The trick is to use the scope for what it is best capable of. There are enough clusters - Open and Globular -  many double stars and a nebula or two to keep you occupied and learning for what your next step may be.

By the way and for me more then you - the scope is sort of "upside down" and pointing the wrong way isn't it ???

 

Edited November 26, 2016 by ronin

[triton1]

It,s similar to my brothers Helios you should get really good views but because of "bird-jones" design collimating might be awkward however doable.He had his for a couple of years and after looking thru it I took the plunge so I wouldn't worry to much.

ps he sold his for £50 so price seems fair.

[Putaendo Patrick]

Your telescope is basically a copy/clone/alternative version of the Celestron Astromaster 114 (still in production) and probably dates from the mid 1980s. Whilst certainly not a research grade scientific instrument, when it was new it would have been considered a good beginner's telescope. Over the last thirty years, however, there have been significant improvements and better telescopes are now comparatively cheaper.

If you can get a half decent working telescope for 55 pounds, I don't think you've done badly at all .

I'm guessing your scope was made in Japan and predates the mass migration of cheap telescope production to China. These type of telescopes were exported and branded locally in Europe or the USA, sometimes by astronomical suppliers such as Meade or Celestron and sometimes by department store chains (in England, for example, the Dixons High Street chain of electrical/photographic shops marketed similar telescopes under the Prinz brand). I believe a German company called Dörr were/are behind the Danubia brand, but I'm afraid I know nothing about Dörr. Some older Danubia telescopes have optics made by Towa, a Japanese company which was capable of producing very good optics.

Don't expect this telescope to perform fantastically - but if all the parts are complete and the mirrors are in reasonable condition, it may be surprisingly adequate for a basic beginner! Don't write it off quite yet. If it works, you can get a lot of observation under your belt, and if the hobby grabs you, you can buy a bigger, better scope in the future.

You may want to measure the diameter of the focuser tube and eyepieces: they may be 0.9 inches, an older size which will make getting better eyepieces quite difficult. On the other hand, if the diameter is 1.25 inches - any standard modern eyepiece will fit, and you may be able to improve viewing with inexpensive second-hand Plossls (15-20 pounds). Equally, you may be lucky enough to have a couple of decent original Kellner eyepieces, some of which can be really quite good.

Beware - some of these older telescopes came with very inadequate and unsafe solar filters. Please DO NOT USE THESE TO VIEW THE SUN.

And, although looks aren't everything as they say, in my opinion it's a pretty cool looking telescope .

 

[Charic]

Hi welcome to the SGL.

Your scope looks like the Danubia Saturn 50. Though someone will locate the right scope for you but I'm trying to locate a user guide for you..........


I spent £40 on my first scope, the Celestron 127EQ. Very similar in design and setup.
With your scope you can learn about  equatorial alignment, setting the scope up, and with the basic eyepieces, you may get a decent view of the Moon if the scope is correctly collimated, which on a scope like this can be done with the naked eye, no fancy tools.
For this telescopes type of operation and performance ( I'm being kind tonight) its the reason I quickly upgraded to my present scope.

Check out the link above to see if you have 'all the parts', then just get the best with what you have.

Ich hoffe dein Deutsch ist besser als meins.....

 http://www.doerrfoto.de/service/pdf/EQ12_Deutsch.pdf  

 

 

Edited November 27, 2016 by Charic

[Jimtheslim]

It might be ok to see if you lie astronomy or not, however if it does turn out to be a real dog and disappoints you, please don't let it get you down. If you really don't think it is performing or is too incomplete to use then I would maybe advise against spending more money on it. Maybe keep it for spares/deconstruction project for the future.

[Dave In Vermont]

3 hours ago, D4N said:

I would always be concerned about buying a scope if the person selling it has it set up for looking at the ground!

 

However it is entirely possible it could be a nice little scope once you get it set up properly, there are a lot of bits wrong or missing in the image but hopefully they are included and the seller just didn't know how to put it all together.

I was wondering how long it would take before someone pointed this out!

Yes - it will help a bit to turn it around so the mirror is in the bottom position of the tube, with the focuser on top.

Ya gotta love it...

Dave

[Joseki]

Hi, good luck with your scope - & rather than worry you got a lemon be pleased you didn't get one of the nightmare toy telescopes that pop up in various popular supermarkets or toy shops As well as posting on this forum (e.g. photos and "where does this bit go?" etc) you might want to get in touch with York astro society.  They have public events and if you turned up with it I reckon you'd have a good chance that someone would be happy to give you some hands on demonstrations.  Also, they may be able to help you get the mirrors into proper alignment - which it probably needs.   http://yorkastro.org.uk/events/

 

[Jenn82]

I am so grateful for all these wonderful, inciteful responses. I am feeling positive and even a little more excited than when I first bought it. I will pick it up and will take advise on the york Astro society and attend one of their meetings. I will update when I have it. Who knows I may find some very interesting things on the ground as it is currently set up! 

[Putaendo Patrick]

51 minutes ago, Jenn82 said:

Who knows I may find some very interesting things on the ground as it is currently set up! 

Take care - ants magnified x200 can give you quite a nasty turn!

[Cornelius Varley]

19 hours ago, Charic said:

Hi welcome to the SGL.

Your scope looks like the Danubia Saturn 50. Though somewhere will locate the right scope for you but I'm trying to locate a user guide for you..........


I spent £40 on my first scope, the Celestron 127EQ. Very similar in design and setup.
With your scope you can learn about  equatorial alignment, setting the scope up, and with the basic eyepieces, you may get a decent view of the Moon if the scope is correctly collimated, which on a scope like this can be done with the naked eye, no fancy tools.
For this telescopes type of operation and performance ( I'm being kind tonight) its the reason I quickly upgraded to my present scope.

Check out the link above to see if you have 'all the parts', then just get the best with what you have.

Ich hoffe dein Deutsch ist besser als meins.....

 http://www.doerrfoto.de/service/pdf/EQ12_Deutsch.pdf  

 

 

It is not a Danubia Saturn 50. The Danubia Saturn 50 is a 114/900 Newtonian, The Towa telescope in the photograph is a 114/1000 Jones-Bird design.