unitron telescopes

[bottletopburly]

Came across this site today by accident all about unitron telescopes ,well worth a browse http://www.unitronhistory.com/ while we wait on Doris coming 

[mikeDnight]

Truly Gorgeous with a capital G! 

Mike

[John]

I can well recall the adverts for Unitron in the early US astro mags I used to subscribe to. Very droolworthy !.

I wonder how they measure up to some of todays quality refractors ?

 

[Ben the Ignorant]

The best ever view of Mars I had was with a 4-inch Unitron f/15 doublet achromat. The colossal 2003 opposition made this possible, but also the wonderful polish and figuring. The refractor was mounted parallel to the club's (now removed) 10-inch f/6.5 newtonian. With their similar focal lengths, comparison was easy; switching eyepieces we saw Mars had the same main features and overall detail in the smaller scope, with bold colors. The planet appeared less bright in the doublet at high power, but not dim at all compared to the newtonian.

Some extra microdetail could be "guessed" in the bigger scope but I still have the Unitron view photographed in my mind 14 years later, it happens only when a view is very significant. I didn't have the habit of systematically looking at the intrafocal and extrafocal patterns at that time, but the focused image was splendid, and not that different than what the newtonian showed with 150% more diameter.

I remember this for another reason: not realizing how long and heavy these Unitron tubes are, I let a friend mount it on the main scope alone, but later I understood what a chore it had been because the length and heft made handling really difficult. As impressive as the Unitron views are, now I would take an ED doublet instead. At f/7 chromatic spread is shorter, and the improvement in convenience is self-evident.

[Ceramus]

Thanks for this link, very interesting site. As a young teenager I drooled over the Sky &Telescope adds for Unitrons until I was lucky enough to get a second hand 3" fl 1200mm Equatorial (model 142)  for Christmas. Many years of pleasurable observing finding my way around stars and DSO's . Finally decided to sell it to someone who bought it during the Apollo Missions to take to a star party...wish I still had it.