Revamp needed for APO Refractor.

[Chris M48]

My SW 100ED APO Refractor is approaching 10yrs of age and is tired.

The images are no longer pin point as  once was the case.

I’m retired and know how it feels.

Can anyone suggest an organisation that will give it a service and adjustment as required to give a few more years life. It is an old friend.

Many thanks.

[Astrobits]

Are you sure that it's the telescope and not your eyes? Eyes change with time and Opticians cannot always fully correct for astigmatism. They can only correct for the major axis and there could be some minor astigmatism at a different angle remaining. I know because I have this problem and I can detect changes in my astigmatism over time-scales of less than 1 year. Just look at the Moon with and without any glasses you use. Is there a another, fainter, image nearby? Do any glasses you use eliminate all secondary images or is there still a faint secondary image remaining, probably in a slightly different position? Whatever, if you can detect a secondary image then you have uncorrected astigmatism.

I would not have thought that at 10 years old your telescope would be deteriorating unless it has had a knock severe enough to put the lenses out of alignment.

Nigel

[Cosmic Geoff]

I have a 70 year old vintage Ross 70mm refractor that still works perfectly.

[david_taurus83]

FLO are not too far from you. Perhaps you could send them an email and see if they can help or at least point you in the right direction?

questions@firstlightoptics.com

Even closer to you:

https://intrasights.co.uk/

[vlaiv]

From your signature it looks like you have a few cameras, so I'm guessing that you are no stranger to imaging?

There is really simple way to check if it is indeed the scope or your eyes. Cameras should not have any astigmatism with age - why don't you do a star test with camera - snap couple of images of brighter stars in focus and both sides of focus - that way you can examine if defocused star image is concentric.

Also, do a "wide field" of uniform star field and observe star shapes across the field. Mind you, there could be some issues with the image that are not due to scope optics - like field curvature and sensor tilt. If you encounter these - it can be easily checked if they are in fact the reason (multiple cameras, camera rotation orientation, type of aberration and spread over the field ...).

[Chris M48]

That’s really helpful, thank you guys.

David, I’ve arranged a meeting at IntraSight next week for them to appraise.

Good stuff.

Clear nights

[mikeDnight]

Perhaps she just needs a clean! You could buy some Caloclean lens cleaning spray and a Calocloth lens cloth from a local optician for just a few pounds. It will last for years! Also, any eyepieces you have may benefit from their eye lenses cleaning, as oil from eyelashes will affect their performance over time. After doing that the scope should perform as good as new. 

[Chris M48]

Thanks Mike. Yes, I did that 1st thing.

Clear nights