The longest you've had a scope?

[DaveS]

Longest scopr is my 60mm Dixon's from 1971 or so. Still have the mirrors from 6" and 8" newts dating to late 70's / early 80's.

My current oldest 'scope is my Meg90 bought in 2009 when I rekindled my interest and joined SGL.

[AKB]

I ground and polished my own 6 1/4 inch mirror in 1971, but for various reasons which caused a hiatus of about 40 years in terms of any practical involvement in astronomy, it was never slivered or used in a ‘scope.  I still have it.  I suppose I really should finish and use it one day.

[Stu]

For some reason I read the title as 'what's the longest scope you've had?'

Might be quite a good thread!

Not totally sure, quite possibly my first scope which was a Celestron C150HD on an EQ3 ish type mount which was a 30th birthday present from my parents. It taught me quite alot, how to work the mount and collimate a scope although as a bird-jones type it had it's limitations. Max mag was about x150 before it started going mushy.

I had my OMC200 for a good number of years, and am sure that my current main scope, the unmentionable 4" frac will be with me until I am no longer able to observe.

[emadmoussa]

1 minute ago, Stu said:

For some reason I read the title as 'what's the longest scope you've had?'

 

1

Probably John will win this game with his (previous)  bazooka scope. 

[Chris]

I bought an ETX90 back in 2000, and kept it throughout my Astro degree before selling it for an Evostar 120/EQ5 when I got a job,,,, so 4 ish years.....Other than that my scopes are lucky to last a year before I move them on.  

[Chris]

11 minutes ago, Stu said:

For some reason I read the title as 'what's the longest scope you've had?'

Might be quite a good thread!

haha I'm on it, Stu..watch this space.

[RT65CB-SWL]

My TeleVue Ranger... sometime during late June/early July 1998.

 

[geoflewis]

I still have a 4” Charles Franks table top AltAz newtonian OTA, all that remains of the scope that my parents bought me (for 15 Guineas) in 1971 after I got good grades in my O-Levels, so almost exactly 47 years ago. I had a huge amount of fun with that, my first sight of Saturn’s rings being the highlight, but also M31, M13, the Moon of course and also sunspots by projection. It also taught me a lot about navigating the night sky by star hopping. The mount was basically hard plastic with short metal tubular feet and moving the mount was just a crude push/pull with the clutches loosened. The mounting points for the legs all broke over time and no amount of glue, sellotape, jubilee clips, etc., etc. could save it. I kept the OTA thinking that one day it might get mounted on a larger scope as a manual guide scope (remember those anyone?). The last 40+ years it’s moved from loft to loft in at least 4 homes, but I can’t bring myself to part with it....

Cheers, Geof

[AdeKing]

Longest i've had an astronomical scope is 3.5 years and counting (8" Skywatcher Dob) which was a 40th birthday present and as such is likely to be a forever scope.

My first spotting scope was an Opticron Piccolo Mk ii.  I've owned since 1987 so 31 years and I still have it boxed up somewhere. Got my first view of Saturn and Jupiter through it but I remember the view dancing all over the place on the alt az camera tripod I had at the time.

Ade

[emadmoussa]

I'm actually buying a 6 year old Meade LX200 12-INCH for under 3K (over 5K new). It' in excellent condition. I'm assuming,  I shouldn' worry then, especially about the computer system? 

[HD-AP]

Oldest telescope I still own 

is a 4 inch Newtonian homemade using a Charles frank mirror making kit Pyrex blank and grinding materials 1969 

lucky for me in our village was a skilled atm and amateur astronomer my then mentor Brian Williams who in later years would go on to build with the help of his wife Powys county observatory ,now under new ownership as the space guard centre.

reguarding electrical reliability I have a 1973 fullerscope 10 inch export Newtonian on a my iv mount sky tracker and motors still working fine 

1993 astrophysics and 1200 mount with 180 EDT f9 refractor mount runs with Swiss watch precision still to this day !

Given that these telescopes have lived in harsh observatory environments for all this time is testament to their longevity 

and also it’s about how their owners keepers / temporary / long term custodians have looked after and preserved them !?

 

.

 

[xvariablestarx]

My old Tasco scope from the early 90s is at my Dad's house, but I have no desire to use it. Last time I looked at it the mirror was badly degraded, and its a cheap design anyway.

[Paz]

I've never yet sold a scope, the ST120 was the first I got so that's the one I've had the longest - I think nearly 4 years old it must be, but it feels like a lot longer.

I ought to start thinning things out a bit but I think my vx14 will stay with me the longest, that's not going until I can't physically set it up any more.

[Alfian]

On 14/07/2018 at 23:07, AdeKing said:

My first spotting scope was an Opticron Piccolo Mk ii

Snap. I got my Piccolo ED in 1992 for one of those big birthdays. Have used it occasionally for astronomy, really nice pin point stars and great contrast, but straight through viewing is a bit painful after a while.

[Cosmic Geoff]

On ‎14‎/‎07‎/‎2018 at 14:38, emadmoussa said:

I see a bunch of guys on SGL who've had their 'beloved' scopes for over 15 years and still going strong. Can the electronics of, say, a GoTo system actually survive for that long? 

A reasonable question. There are rumors that the electronic components (capacitors etc) used in some popular consumer electronics have a design life of as little as three years.  That's not too worrying for fashion items like iphones, Alexas etc, but would be for something you want to keep.

On the other hand I have a number of audio, video and computer products that are about 10 to 20 years old, and are still working, or were the last time I tried them. My point here is that I am not using them, because I have upgraded to  newer technologies or a newer operating system.  You might not want to use the early GoTo system described in a post above, or the LX200 GoTo control system at a local observatory, which stores the planets as code numbers and apparently doesn't have the built-in object catalogues of my Nexstars.

If the electronic mount you are buying failed within two or three years, you would no doubt be annoyed, but rather than have it repaired you might decide to upgrade to the latest self-aligning voice-operated model. ?

In answer to the original post, I have a 30mm aperture brass Ross terrestrial refractor that I inherited from my grandfather in the 1960's.

[LukeSkywatcher]

My oldest scope is 10 yrs old. Its a 90mm refrac on an EQ mount. Love the scope (1000mm fl), hate the EQ.

[Charic]

On 14/07/2018 at 16:52, John said:

I tried making a newtonian from an old shaving mirror when I was young and naive. I didn't keep that one ....... 

Did Celestron find your plan?  reminds me of their 127EQ Powerseeker

[RT65CB-SWL]

4 hours ago, Cosmic Geoff said:

In answer to the original post, I have a 30mm aperture brass Ross terrestrial refractor that I inherited from my grandfather in the 1960's.

A bit older than SGL......this brass sighting scope (c1916).

I found it in a rubbish bin about 30+ years ago wrapped in newspaper and a supermarket carrier bag.

 

[Space Hopper]

My William Optics FLT132 has just past the 10 year mark.

The only thing i've changed on it is the Vixen rail, and the focuser.

[niallk]

My trusty first scope - my SW 250px: going on 9.5yrs now, though it gets much less use nowadays because of my newer 15".  I store it in the house, and the chipboard base is still in pristine condition.  I considered it, but won't sell it; I could only imagine giving it on 'long term loan' to a friend or family who showed an interest in astronomy.

[Charic]

On 14/07/2018 at 14:38, emadmoussa said:

Now I'm back and hoping to get a scope that I'd use for many years to come.

If your concerned about the electronics, do you really need them at all?
You could get a lot of aperture for your money, if you left the electrics out, but if your going to photograph, then I suppose electrics are something to consider.

I know one thing for sure, I have used Roland keyboards for a while, some of the rigs are over ten years old, and windows 8 & 10 were just a long distant possibility  back then when these units were first released, but there's an issue at present with driver signatures on Windows 10, which hopefully will get sorted soon, but Roland's website only has an apology at present, no fix (the last time I checked). So although the rigs are in perfect working order, folk who may be using similar rigs may find there is/will be issues if they want to use the rigs under computer control. Their rigs are perfect in all other respects.

I'm sure there'll be some astro systems that are 'prone' to some issues, be that mechanical or electrical breakdown, possibly even software issues,but there's no  real guarantee that goods will remain fault free , and some guarantees may not last the life of the scope!

My own and only scope is powerless and just approaching its 5th season, not sure they have birthdays.

[Binoscoper]

On 25/07/2018 at 17:49, Alfian said:

Snap. I got my Piccolo ED in 1992 for one of those big birthdays. Have used it occasionally for astronomy, really nice pin point stars and great contrast, but straight through viewing is a bit painful after a while.

Having recently blown my birthday budget on a new bicycle, I had nothing left for an astro type scope I was going to get. However whilst casually reading on another forum's sale page, I come across a piccolo (non ed). £40 inc postage. Hopefully it works out? Better than no scope at all I suppose ??

[Alfian]

11 hours ago, Binoscoper said:

Having recently blown my birthday budget on a new bicycle, I had nothing left for an astro type scope I was going to get. However whilst casually reading on another forum's sale page, I come across a piccolo (non ed). £40 inc postage. Hopefully it works out? Better than no scope at all I suppose ??

One difficulty I found using the spotter for astronomy was finding things, other than the moon, but solved this by fixing a red dot finder onto the scope using sticky pads. It can be removed and the glue residue removed with white spirit. Nice scope, the Piccolo, very well made.