Fullerscopes 11.75" Cass

[PaulC-I]

Hi,

Been researching these scopes. Has anybody actually observered through one, on this site?

Considering taking one on.

I would appreciate any feedback.

Cheers

Paul

[Peter Drew]

I've not actually used one but I have the optical set from one for which I've built my own OTA.  I haven't had chance to use it yet as its mount is still a work in progress.  I believe they were available in F4-F16 and F5-F20 configurations, mine is the latter.  Either will have David Hinds A quality optics so as good as it gets.

They have reasonably large secondary obstructions and together with the difficulty of including baffles that don't vignet results in a brighter sky background than would be seen in the equivalent refractor or Newtonian.  Their strengths, in the era they were made and sold, were compactness and the very long focal lengths ideal for lunar and planetary photography.  Also worth determining if it is a Classical Cassegrain or a Dall-Kirkham Cassegrain, mine is the D-K.    🙂 

[JeremyS]

I used a Fullerscopes 11.75 cass-newt in both configurations. It was on a Mark IV mounting and owned by a school chum. But this was back in the 70s 😊
I remember it put up stunning views of Saturn (cass mode) and DSOs (newt mode).

[PaulC-I]

HI Peter & Jeremy,

Many thanks for your responses. I didnt realise there were 2 different focal lengths of primary mirror. I'll delve deeper!

Thanks

Paul