How many telescopes do you own?

[Grump Martian]

No telescope shop owners allowed,lol.

I have seven including an

1. opticron bird watching scope.

2. Tasco 40 mm.

3. Henry Wildey made 70 mm refractor.

4. Celestron C6.

5. ST 120.

6. ED 80.

7. ED 100.

I'm happy to keep these having chopped and changed over the last ten years. 

The ST 120 gets used on my visits to Dorset. The ED's and C6 are my regularly used scopes in Hertfordshire. The Tasco 40mm is the model of scope that I first looked through when I was 14 in 1974. The 70mm is a treasured item having known Henry during the 1990's and early 2000's.

I use the Opticron in the garden and bird hides in the Lea Valley.

 

[Captain Scarlet]

I have 7.5 scopes at the moment.

- Intes M603, a 6” f/12.9 Mak which I hardly ever use.

- Skymax 180, f/16, flocked inside and silvered outside, which gets occasional use.

- 200mm f/4.3 Newtonian (which used to be your OO VX8) and which I re-tubed with a Helmerichs carbon tube. I use it more often than the Maks.

- 300mm f/5.4 Newtonian also carbon-tubed and OO-celled. I use it as often as low-Moon skies, time, energy and weather permit. My first choice. 

- LZOS 105/650 f/6.2 refractor. Used frequently.

- Stellarvue SVX140T f/6.7 refractor. Lovely scope. Used frequently.

- my half-scope: a 20” f/3.7 mirror-set, which I plan to build into a Dobsonian.

- an 88mm spotting scope, used as grab & go and birding, a Kowa TSN-883

ive just sold my small spotting scope, so only 7.5!

Cheers, Magnus

Edited March 12 by Captain Scarlet

[vlaiv]

5 at the moment.

8" F/6 Dob, 4" F/10 Achromatic refractor, 80mm F/6 APO triplet, 4" F/13 Maksutov, 8" F/8 RC

Well, 5 1/4

I have 80mm F/7.5 achromat being lens in a cell at the moment and trying to grow into full fledged OTA (waiting for me to get aluminum tubing and to 3d print a focuser for it).

[Ratlet]

5, not including vintage lenses.

10" Stellalyra Dob, ST80, 102 ED/F7.  Those I'm keeping.

Also got a Celesteon LT80 which I need to give to a mate who's daughter has expressed an interest and has bortle 2 skies.

And a 130pds which has performed spectacularly for the last 2 years, but has been superceded by the 102ED.  It'll need to go for sale but, believe it or not, it was my dream scope lol.  Maybe I'll try and build a pocket dob with it.

[Grump Martian]

Thanks for thr great replies. I am heartened that people enjoy modifying telescopes to improve and bring them to an instruement that really suites them.

[mikeDnight]

Currently, three Newtonian's - 80mm, 115mm, and a 150mm.  And six refractors - 2×60mm an Astral and a beautiful Carton, a 70mm modern Meade achro,  and a 72mm ED, 100mm fluorite apo, & 128mm fluorite apo. 

Edited March 12 by mikeDnight

[John]

I have 6 scopes currently, all refractors:

- Tasco 60mm F/13.3 achromat

- Altair Starwave 70mm F/6 ED doublet

- Takahashi FC100-DL F/9 Fluorite doublet

- Vixen ED102SS F/6.5 ED doublet

- Skywatcher ED120 Pro F/7.5 ED doublet

- APM/TMB/LZOS 130mm F/9.2 triplet

When I get the urge for some more aperture again it will probably be a reflector. I'm not sure I want to deal with a refractor larger than 130mm now 🤔

[woldsman]

Too many (!). Five refractors & three reflectors:
 

William Optics GT71 (used for wide field imaging)

Vixen Custom 80 (used when I’m away from home for observing)

Vixen Custom 90 (used for v quick observing sessions at home)

Tal 100R (an indulgence)

Tal 100RS (used for planetary observing)

Tal 110 (used for solar projection)

Skywatcher 130PDS (used for imaging smaller targets)

Tal 150P (used for observing at home for longer sessions)

 

I think a couple from this list may have to go…

Edited March 12 by woldsman

[bosun21]

4 minutes ago, John said:

I have 6 scopes currently, all refractors:

- Tasco 60mm F/13.3 achromat

- Altair Starwave 70mm F/6 ED doublet

- Takahashi FC100-DL F/9 Fluorite doublet

- Vixen ED102SS F/6.5 ED doublet

- Skywatcher ED120 Pro F/7.5 ED doublet

- APM/TMB/LZOS 130mm F/9.2 triplet

When I get the urge for some more aperture again it will probably be a reflector. I'm not sure I want to deal with a refractor larger than 130mm now 🤔

John did you not recently acquire a used 8" SW dob? Or am mistaken. I think I can recall you commenting on the Azimuth stiction mod you carried out. Lovely collection of refractors you have gathered over the years.

[CCD-Freak]

I currently have 16 optical tubes that I use with 4 mounts that I have. OH....I forgot one so make that 17

1 AT60ED

2 Williams Optics 80ED

3 Orion 110ED

4 Explore Scientific 127ED

5 Celestron 102 F5

6 AT6RC

7 AT10RC

8 Celestron C8

9 Celestron Ultima 8

10 Meade ETX90

11 Sharpstar 150 F2.8 Hyper Newt

12 8" F5 Newt

13 8" F3.8 Newt

14 12" F4 Newt

15 Meade RG880 Newt

16 12" F6 Newt

17 8" F8 Home built Dob

Too many telescopes and not enough clear sky !!!!

 

Edited March 13 by CCD-Freak

[Grump Martian]

12 minutes ago, woldsman said:

Too many (!). Five refractors & three reflectors:
 

William Optics GT71 (used for wide field imaging)

Vixen Custom 80 (used when I’m away from home for observing)

Vixen Custom 90 (used for v quick observing sessions at home)

Tal 100R (an indulgence)

Tal 100RS (used for planetary observing)

Tal 110 (used for solar projection)

Skywatcher 130PDS (used for imaging smaller targets)

Tal 150P (used for observing at home for longer sessions)

 

I think a couple from this list may have to go…

Noooo, keep them all. You'll reget the loss.

[John]

16 minutes ago, bosun21 said:

John did you not recently acquire a used 8" SW dob? Or am mistaken. I think I can recall you commenting on the Azimuth stiction mod you carried out.....

I did and I got the azimuth motion sorted with a single "milk carton washer". It was a very good scope but, probably influenced by the rather poor weather we have had over the past few months, it was not getting used enough so I let it go to a new home.

 

 

[Nicola Fletcher]

I have five, which my mum thinks is way too many and I think is almost enough:

1. A Takahashi FC76-DCU refractor - my favourite and used all the time.

2. An Altair Astro 102 ED-R refractor 

3. A Takahashi FC100DZ refractor 

4. A 12” Explore Scientific Ultralight dob

5. A Takahashi Mewlon 180C Dall Kirkham - new and has only been out for one session so far.

These are all complementary apart from the two 4” apos but I love both of them so much I can’t bear to part with one!

[Stu]

I should probably just plead the fifth here…..

Currently it sits at 16, with two additional projects yet to be completed.

EDIT Forgot my Omni 120mm so that’s 17 😬

Most used are the FC-76DCU, FC100DC, FS-128, 8” f8, 16” and the two PST mods. I should really move a few on, but there are some comparisons I want to make between the ST and LT 80mm, some are kept for sentimental type reasons (Telementor and Alkor) and some like the Genesis and FL102S I just need to use more! Clouds!!! 🤬

Zeiss Telementor

TAL Alkor

77mm f11.8 Hilkin

ST80

LT80AZ

FS-60Q

FC-76DCU

FC-100DC

Genesis

FL102S

Vixen 102mm PST Mod

Celestron Omni 120mm XLT

FS-128

AstroSystems 150mm f6

150mm f10 PST Mod

Orion Optics 8” f8

16” f4.2 Truss Dob

 

150mm f10 Project

12” f6 (Nichol Mirror set) Truss dob

[DirkSteele]

My wife would say too many!

 

1) APM LZOS 180mm f/7 triplet apo

2) APM LZOS 130mm f/9.2 triplet apo

3) APM LZOS 115mm f/7 triplet apo

4) APM LZOS 105mm f/6.2 triplet apo

5) Takahashi FC-100DC doublet apo

6) Takahashi FC-76DCU doublet apo

7) Takahashi FS-60 doublet apo

8.  Celestron Nexstar C11

8.5) Takahashi FS-60Q f/10 quadruplet apo

9) Takahashi FC-76Q f/12.6 quadruplet apo

The last two are halves as they use the base scopes above and introduce the CQ module to change the scope into something else.

Edited March 13 by DirkSteele
Typo

[Saganite]

Only four now I have just sold the Lyra Optic 102mm f11

In my signature..

It will be different again after PAS...😁

 

 

Edited March 13 by Saganite

[Roy Challen]

Just three refractors here;

Takahashi FS60-CB, 76mm f/16+ Skylight achro, and my Daystar Solarscout which gets used the most. I don't think I need anything else...😉

[Nicola Fletcher]

1 hour ago, Stu said:

I should probably just plead the fifth here…..

Currently it sits at 16, with two additional projects yet to be completed.

EDIT Fogot my Omni 120mm so that’s 17 😬

Most used are the FC-76DCU, FC100DC, FS-128, 8” f8, 16” and the two PST mods. I should really move a few on, but there are some comparisons I want to make between the ST and LT 80mm, some are kept for sentimental type reasons (Telementor and Alkor) and some like the Genesis and FL102S I just need to use more! Clouds!!! 🤬

Zeiss Telementor

TAL Alkor

77mm f11.8 Hilkin

ST80

LT80AZ

FS-60Q

FC-76DCU

FC-100DC

Genesis

FL102S

Vixen 102mm PST Mod

Celestron Omni 120mm XLT

FS-128

AstroSystems 150mm f6

150mm f10 PST Mod

Orion Optics 8” f8

16” f4.2 Truss Dob

 

150mm f10 Project

12” f6 (Nichol Mirror set) Truss dob

This is a great post @Stu for demonstrating to my family that my five scopes could get a whole lot worse. Thank you! 😂

PS. That really is an amazing collection.

[Cjg]

2.5

An Astro-Physics Stowaway 92mm 

An Altair Astro 125mm EDF Doublet

An Altair Astro 72mm Doublet on a long term loan with a friend.

Edited March 13 by Cjg
Typo

[josefk]

Just four.

When considering a 'family" of scopes most people probably make this analysis instinctively. I use a spreadsheet! 😂

I know my long term satisfaction comes from the combination of "ease of deployment" (fast and low fuss) and the "personal axis" (the "personal" axis is low or zero optical aberrations, or absence of ones that catch my eye at least). The other axis are self explanatory - the higher the score the better the quality.

S+1 might be a 12" Cassegrain (i like their compactness relative to aperture) but it is currently scored on that radar diagram as a 12" Dob. If i leave acting on S+1 so long (too long) that i won't be able to handle it as a bigger/heavier scope (and prices fall in the meanwhile) it may actually be an NV eyepiece to go in the FSQ. If i do that, then other than resolution, the FSQ really would become 'one scope to rule them all'.

[Stu]

1 hour ago, Nicola Fletcher said:

This is a great post @Stu for demonstrating to my family that my five scopes could get a whole lot worse. Thank you! 😂

PS. That really is an amazing collection.

🤣🤣

I am well aware that it is ludicrously unjustifiable, and that I do not need them all. I do just enjoy owning them, some are fairly rare but excellent examples which would be hard to replace such as the Genesis and Vixen FL102S. The TAL Alkor is a lovely little thing. I don’t use it much but it’s not worth much either (about the price of a used Ortho!) so I keep it 👍

[Elp]

As a primarily imager I'd simply say, "it's complicated".

[Ian McCallum]

Just the 3 telescopes, a SW200p Dobbie, ST120 and a Evostar 120.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Currently I have the following OTAs

1. Celestron C8
2. Baader/Celestron 8" Tri-Band SCT
3. Meade SN-6 6" F/5 Schmidt-Newton
4. APM 80 mm F/6 APO triplet
5. Coronado SolarMax II 60
6. Skywatcher ST80 (guide scope)
7. generic 70mm F/5 achromat (giant finder)
8. 60 mm guide scope

If we count binoculars as telescopes that would add

1. Helios LightQuest 16x80 mm
2. Zeiss Victory 10x42 mm
3. Lunt 8x32mm SUNoculars
4. Zeiss Victory Pocket 8x25 mm

These scopes may be mounted on the following gear:

1. Vixen Great Polaris
2. Vixen GP-DX
3. iOptron HEM-15
4. ZWO AM-5
5. SkyWatcher EQ3-2
6. Tele-Optic Mini-Giro
7. Home-made P-mount

[JTEC]

Following a recent cull of scopes that didn't get much use, just 2.  I call this ‘rationalisation’ but deep down I know  it’s just clearing the decks to speculate about what I might get next.  For now it’s:

TEC140 apo and Stellalyra 90mm apo.

Gone for now are the SCTs and big Dobs, but I know they’re all still out there, waiting …