Relic from the Loft

[John]

Inspired by Stu's threads on his smaller scopes, eg:

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/353976-three-old-dames-two-doubles-and-one-full-moon/?tab=comments#comment-3854590

I've dug my first scope out of the loft with the intention of seeing if it can still be useful in some way.

It is a 1960's vintage Tasco model 12TE-5 - a 60mm F/13.3 achromat refractor. The label on the focuser has the (T) logo and Japan so made by Towa perhaps ?

I'm looking forward to getting this thing up and running. It must be 20+ years since I last looked through it. It's nearly as old as I am !

All the bits and pieces seem to be present. I've just got to remember how they fit together !

 

[Stu]

Looks fab John! Look forward to hearing about it.

[DaveL59]

love how the older gear used to come in a nice wood case, makes for easy storage and transporting as well as having a classic look.

[mikeDnight]

It looks terrific John! Just imagine its your first scope all over again and it will come together easily.  Sometimes there can be magic in those old wooden cases. 

So you're nearly 20yrs old are you? I'm impressed! I barely entered my teens before I gave up on growing up! 

Edited May 9, 2020 by mikeDnight

[John]

My other half has just reminded me that I bought the scope (used of course) when we were engaged and saving for a mortgage deposit. She thought I was nuts ! - 45 quid down the drain just when we needed to be prudent. If only she had realised then what the thing would lead to ......

That was 37 years ago so the scope was about 20 years old even then. I recall now that the last time that I actually used it was the transit of Venus in 2004. I projected the image of the Sun onto the screen provided with the scope and showed my kids and their friends as they went on their way to school that morning.

 

 

[John]

Well, its assembled. There is quite a bit of play in the fork alt-az mount but at least it does have slow motions on both axis.

I've forgotten how small .965" accessories are !

The finder, while aligned with the scope OK, is poor.

I want to try it initially with the original mount and eyepieces to re-capture my early views. 

 

[Stu]

Very nice! Looks in great condition. I found my Carton 60 f16.7 much better when I fitted rings and a dovetail and used it on a decent mount but as you say, get the real experience first 👍👍

[Mark at Beaufort]

John that really takes me back. I bought a 60mm refractor with my first pay cheque - February 1965 - it looks the same as yours including the mount. I believe it was £29+ although not totally sure. I really wanted a Swift refractor from Charles Frank in Glasgow but could not afford it. The last time I used it was showing the boys 'Halley Comet' in 1986. Not long after I sold it - should have left it in the attic.

John I look forward to some of your Double Stars observations.

[John]

Looking over the scope, the double drawtube arrangement (pictured below) has reminded me of my 1st light with this scope all those years ago.

After sweet talking my fiancee over why I had bought the scope, I took it out for 1st light that evening only to find that I simply could not get the thing to focus on anything

I had used a similar scope before (borrowed from a friend) so I knew that I should get sharp focus on the Moon and the stars as pinpoints rather than the disks that I was getting.

I honestly thought that I had bought a "pig in a poke" and would have to either fake using the thing to keep my intended on side or, worse, admit that I had made a bad purchase and face the wrath

Then I spotted the inner drawtube, slid it out a few inches and all of a sudden, things came into sharp focus. Phew !!!! - I was saved from embarrassment !!!

I guess this was yesterdays equivalent of todays Skywatcher  "both adapters in the focuser at once" problem which crops up quite often.

Hoping for a view of Venus at least this evening but there are a lot of clouds about - even unboxing old scopes attracts them

 

[DaveL59]

looks in great condition John and circle-T is I think Towa, its one of the things I look for when I scan sales ads for older fracs as they're generally good quality. Shows in simple stuff like the focuser knobs being solid ally rather than the plastic type you get on later ones.

[John]

29 minutes ago, DaveL59 said:

.... Shows in simple stuff like the focuser knobs being solid ally rather than the plastic type you get on later ones.

Thats true Dave. The only plastic things are the dust caps and the  azimuth slow motion knob.

Years ago I removed a plastic baffle from behind the finder objective which reduced the effective aperture to about 10mm. So now I have 25mm of not very well corrected lens, but at least it has a little light more grasp.

 

 

[DaveL59]

in some ways sadly the don't make 'em like they used to... tho optics have improved greatly of course  

[John]

Some fine views of Venus with the old frac this evening but thin cloud has limited what I could go on to observe.

With darkness came the cloud layer which has made finding my intended targets tricky. I did manage to find Gamma Leonis and was rewarded with a nice split of this golden pair at magnifications from 45x upwards. The separation between these stars is 4.3 arc seconds.

 

I also managed to split the closer pair of Gamma Virginis (Porrima) which have a separation of 2.8 arc seconds. That was pretty close to the limit tonight with this scope on it's rather wobbly mount and using the simple huygens type eyepieces.

 

I had a go at Izar in Bootes and could see that it was a double star but did not get the split. It looked rather like a peanut shape with a different tint to each end.

 

I've had a quick look at Epsilon Lyrae but, while the stars are clearly both elongated along the axis of their respective binary pairs, they do not appear as a "double double" currently. I will wait for them to rise a little higher but I suspect getting clear splits here might be beyond this little scope tonight.

 

It has been fun using the old scope again but it has made me realise how much todays eyepieces, finder scopes and mountings have improved over the entry level ones that were available in the 60's and 70's.

 

I think the scope optics are quite good though and I would like to try it on a more stable mount with up to date eyepieces in it.

[Stu]

Sounds promising John. This is what I did with my old Carton 60, made a huge difference to the stability and views. I had to remove all the old fittings but it was nothing irreversible.