A neglected first scope..

[F15Rules]

We bought our son in law an Evostar 120 F8.3 achromat for his 21st birthday while he was starting his Masters in Astro Physics (and later his PHD in Quantum Mechanics).

He's now 30 and has hardly ever used the scope..on a recent visit to Devon to him and our daughter I found it languishing out in the shed, covered in bits of dead spiders, bugs etc.

So I bought it home with me and have been cleaning it up and polishing it with Renaissance Micro Crystalline wax on the tube, and BWF on the objective.

It came up pretty well I think, and is shown here on my SP mount as I daytime tested it on our local church tower, catching a rook in flight carrying nesting material in the process!

I hope he will actually use it soon!! 😠🥴🙏😊

 

 

 

Dave

[OK Apricot]

I don't know how busy students are these days, but that's a good scope going to waste right there. Some years back I had the 150mm f/8 and it was a great all rounder IMO. You've done a good job there, it's come up really well 👍

[F15Rules]

Thanks, Apricot.

It's strange, he was very keen in theory to have his own scope, and seemed to like looking through mine..

..but, like many professional astronomers, he was in the end more interested in the theoretical side of things. During his post doc 2-3 years he was working on computer modelling of the workings of brown dwarfs, something that I would find as dry as dust (not to say unintelligible!).

He's a mathematician first and foremost really, so perhaps he's just not "wired up" for visual astronomy.

But he doesn't want to sell the scope..I told him we wouldn't mind in the least if he did, but maintains that he does intend to use the scope at some point!🤔

Dave

[wookie1965]

What a lovely scope I'd be proud to own and use that. 

[mikeDnight]

I bought the Helios version of the 120 back in 1999. I promised my wife it would be my "last ever scope, honest!" ( I've made that promise  many many times). It was a really nice scope that did well on everything I turned it on.  

[RobertI]

Nice renovation. 👍 I don’t know if he has ever been a visual astronomer (sounds like he hasn’t), but I was super-keen on visual astronomy as a teenager, but when I went to uni, it just stopped, and although I bought a C8 (my dream scope as a teen) when I was in my early thirties, I didn’t really get the astro-bug again until I was 45! I’ve no idea what triggered me to get back into it with such sudden enthusiasm, but your son-in-law might find the same ‘trigger’ at some point, especially if the scope is around for him to see. It is rather nice to be lying around unused though. 🙂

[Muc]

I have the KonusSuper model of this in glorious orange. It's my only scope and it's going to a bortle 4 sky right now wit my SkyTee. I love it. Plan on getting a 10" reflector to compliment it in the future but in no rush. Great value for money, really opened the sky for me

Edited February 28, 2022 by Muc