My first scope…..

[dweller25]

This was my first telescope, bought to view Halley’s comet.

An Astro Systems 8.5” F/5 newt on a Super Polaris driven mount with optics by David Hinds.

I also bought three all silver Celestron Plossls, the 26, 10 and 7.5mm giving x42, 108 and 144.

What was your first scope ?

[cajen2]

Wow, that's quite some scope for a first one! ❤️

[Sunshine]

Agreed, that is a lot of scope for a first one but I bet Halley looked beautiful!

[Victor Boesen]

Beautiful first scope!! Mine wasn't that long ago actually, back in 2016 to be exact. It was a Bresser Pollux as shown below but without the solar film:

Unfortunately I can't find a photo of my exact one. I believe this might be due to my experience with it being rather disappointing. I didn't know much about telescopes and eventually learned the hard way about Bird Jones type telescopes. Yes, I did see Jupiter and some cloud bands, a fuzzy ring around Saturn, the Orion nebula and etc. but at a focal length of 1400mm and a 25mm eyepiece in a 150mm scope I wasn't in for any particularly impressive deep sky views. The moon looked great though.... as with almost any other telescope!

This scope stayed in my possession for about 9 months until I eventually switched it out for a Skywatcher 250PX which I enjoyed way more!! I treated myself some lovely ES 82 degree eyepieces which I still own and love today, and I learned a lot more about which scope, eyepieces or even filters are best suited for a particular target at a particular location!

Shown here is me (far right) sharing views of the moon at an outreach at the Planetarium of Copenhagen.

Now I'm a happy owner of two fracs and no shaving mirrors wait, how did that happen

Victor

[dweller25]

2 hours ago, Sunshine said:

Agreed, that is a lot of scope for a first one but I bet Halley looked beautiful!

Nope, it was a bit disappointing visually 🙁

But I will always remember when I used it for my first view of Saturn 🙂

[JeremyS]

Tasco 60mm refractor. Cracking little scope.

[RobertI]

6 hours ago, dweller25 said:

This was my first telescope, bought to view Halley’s comet.

An Astro Systems 8.5” F/5 newt on a Super Polaris driven mount with optics by David Hinds.

I also bought three all silver Celestron Plossls, the 26, 10 and 7.5mm giving x42, 108 and 144.

What was your first scope ?

What a beautiful and classic scope. I love the tripod too. Must have given some amazing views. My first scope was a 6” F8 Newt on an manual EQ mount bought by my amazingly supportive parents when I was a teenager. Described in more detail in this post a few years ago. 

Edited February 18, 2022 by RobertI

[RT65CB-SWL]

My first telescope was a Tasco 4ETE as shown in the image below.

 note: not my image.

It was a birthday present from my father and step-mother.

It had a 40mm objective and 40x magnification, a fixed eyepiece, made in Japan and a ten year guarantee, (which I took advantage of when I accidently damaged the dewshield and got a replacement from 'local' Tasco reseller). My late grandfather, (he was an aircraft engineer for BOAC at LHR), made a more rigid tripod from some galvanised pipe and pipe-fittings and salvaged the alt-az yoke mount, during one of my school holidays.

It gave me my first telescopic views of the Moon, equatorial belts of Jupiter & Galilean moons, rings of Saturn, M42 and spent a lot of time projecting and recording sunspots from the late 1970's/early 1980's which I no longer have.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Mine was a home-made 6"F/8 Newtonian (bought the mirrors rather than grinding and polishing them myself)

That must be just over 42 years ago, more hair on my head, less on my chest, less weight to drag around.

[Joe G]

This is all that’s left of my first telescope. I bought it in the early eighties from a shop near the Bronx Zoo in New York. I had to pack it away in the original cardboard box after use every night as I had only a small garden shed at the time. I moved to my present home in 1987 with a lot more room to keep it stored fully assembled. I took it out one night to view the planets, left it unattended & when I went back out ,it had blown over & smashed the focuser. Anyway I got over it & at least I got my first close up views of the 4 main planets with it 

[SamAndrew]

Tal 1 - got me hooked

 

Edited February 20, 2022 by SamAndrew

[Nakedgun]

Meade 114mm Newt on a flimsy GEM which I struggled with until finally giving it away and moving on to better things.

No photo.

[F15Rules]

Prinz 330 60mm F11.8 refractor.

Bought from Dixon's Photographic in Coventry.

Prinz branded scopes were optically generally good, with either Circle T (Towa) or Circle K (Kenko) optics. The 330 had a Circle K objective and gave me my first view of Saturn , tiny but very sharp.

The mount wobbled a lot though, and I was fortunate to get an upgrade to the equatorial 550 F15 version a couple of years later, (c1970).

The earlier 550 scopes were far better made than the later "Prinz 500" scopes, which were made with much cheaper components with use of plastic parts.

If you can find one in good condition they will still show decent views😊.

Dave

Note: The photos of the 330 below are not of my scope, but of an identical model.

 

[Alan White]

Sadly no images.
I only got my own scope once I was able to buy one and that was 28 years ago.

Bresser Achromat 900mm FL 80mm Optic on a very rough equatorial mount and wooden tripod.
Came from Dark Star, Mail Order.
I wanted the Vixen 80mm Achromat, but my funds did not allow.
It served me well and the eyepices survive to this day.

I tried the 20mm last year and was impressed with it for what it was, a starter EP.

I learnt about how the sky moved, a lot more about The Moon and Planets and started to look outside of the Solar System.
It was a long serving scope, but sadly ended its days with a drop and a broken lens cell, the mount died far sooner as made from metalic cheese.

Edited February 22, 2022 by Alan White
typos of course

[maw lod qan]

My first was an old 3" or 4" reflector from some store most likely out of business now.

It would have been the mid 60's.

What I remember the most is my first view of Saturn and those rings! Truth be told, if I could really remember what I actually saw back then, it probably was only a little better than what Galileo saw, but it hooked me!

[NeonSpectres]

My parents brought this over at the weekend as it's been sitting in their loft for a few decades! My old Tasco 49TR bought around 1987 I think? All the bits are there aside from the Moon/Solar System maps and the bracket holding the OTA to the mount has a loose rubber gromet but it's still usable. Field of view is tiny even using the 12.5mm 0.965" eyepiece (didn't even try the 5mm or the 'Barlow'!) and it wobbles on it's flimsy mount even if you breathe too heavily near it! 😄

Certainly a long way from the equipment I currently use!

[OK Apricot]

Wow, that makes me feel nostalgic. My first telescope was a 50(?)mm Tasco refractor - I remember my first ever view of Saturn, showing it as a 'rugby ball'. Funnily enough I wasn't amazed, I was actually quite spooked by it! Kids 🙄

[Dave scutt]

My first telescope was the 12"skywatcher dob in August 2021 seeing Jupiter and the moons and Saturn for the first time I was blown away

[Marc1964]

I bought my first scope in 2018, a Skywatcher 90 /900 refractor with the not very good bundled AZ mount. Picked it up off Facebook Marketplace for £60. The older couple I bought it off had only used it twice to look at the moon, which is a real shame because it is not a bad performer at all. Ideal starter, but unwieldy with the AZ mount (AZ2 maybe?). Looking at Saturn and Jupiter for the first time was amazing, but the real eye opener for me were the Pleiades which glowed blue like sapphires. Absolutely beautiful. 

[Carl Au]

Circle T 339 fl15 3 inch refractor

[mikeDnight]

My first scope was a 60mm Prinz Astral that I bought from Dixon's camera shop. I was 18 years old and had saved hard to afford the £110 sale price. The scope held pride of place in the shop's main window. After achieving the desired amount I borrowed dad's car, a beautiful pale green Vauxhall Viva (Delux) ((Posh!)), drove into town and because it was almost 5pm when the shop closed, I parked on double yellow lines and just hoped I didn't get booked. I rushed to Dixon's only to find some bloke fondling my refractor and asking questions about it. I'll be honest, it seriously crossed my mind to knock him out if he tried buying it but to my relief he didn't. I told the shop assistant I wanted to buy the scope and he walked away, bringing a big box back with him. Dixon's had more than one 60mm Astral in stock, which was great as I didn't want to tell dad I was in a cell for assault, and that he's also got a parking ticket.

That 60mm was great! I rushed home without the traffic warden ever knowing I was a criminal, and after cutting the strapping and lifting the lid, being told by my mum to "leave my toy because my tea's ready!"  That 60mm refractor ignited a fire thats still burning 42 years later. I used it extensively to observe Sun spots.

 

Today I've come full circle, almost!  Below is my latest refractor, an immaculate vintage 60mm Carton Comet Seeker. This little scope is truly awesome both in engineering and performance. Being only 60mm and having an F11.8 ratio, it isn't much of a "Commet Seeker", a title it was given in the run up to Galleys comet in the 1980's. So the scope is fast approaching 40 years old but it looks brand new apart from a few small marks on the mount. Optically the Carton is something else, delivering awesome views of the Moon. It's focuser can take 1.25" eyepieces which is unusual for such scopes of the era, and with a binoviewer the views are breathtaking. Below is the Carton 60mm Comet Seeker being used this morning for solar projection.

Edited April 8, 2022 by mikeDnight

[niallk]

Mine was a SW 250px: great scope & phenomenal value for money 😉

I had such an enjoyable learning process with it, and it showed me so many wonders of this universe we live in.