your first proper telescope

[essex sky]

not sure whether this is the correct section for this one.

but what was your first real telescope, perhaps its one you still have and use to this day ?

mine was a very nice 6 inch reflector on a alt/az mount

made by astro systems in bedfordshire. who remembers them?

sold it about 10 years ago . when i brought my c8

lance

[Bizibilder]

Mine was a 6" f/8 Newtonian on a water pipe mount made entirely by myself (including the mirrors) back in about 1970 - All returned to stardust now except the H.N.Irving focusing mount, a 1" and a 1/4" Ramsden eyepiece and a Charles Frank x2 Barlow lens!

[John]

....mine was a very nice 6 inch reflector on a alt/az mount made by astro systems in bedfordshire. who remembers them?....

I remember them well Lance because my 1st proper scope was the same !. I just bought the optical tube and made my own dobsonian mount (I was on a REALLY tight budget !). It did the trick though - 1st proper views of Saturn with Cassini's division and it resolved M13 for me - I was hooked !. So thanks to Astro Systems

[nicnac]

a 6" f5 newt, the TAL 150p on CG5 mount, a fine bit of kit

[essex sky]

hi john

yes they were very nice scopes, mine had the mirror in a fixed cell which maintained

permanent collimation. and it was spot on.

hardly ever see any of there scopes on the 2nd hand market.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Mine was a home made (stove-pipe) 6" F/8 Newtonian, bought the mirrors though (1978). Later refurbished it rebuilding the entire tube, creating a wooden octagonal tube with proper anti-reflection baffles, which improved the overall performance greatly. The mount was a home grown alt-az. It had a 10x50 viewfinder made from a broken 10x50. All sold years back when I got my C8. Had a lot of fun with it.

[Astro_Baby]

Mine was a make I cant recall (Maye hev been Bresser but I just cant remember). It was a 4.5" long tube newt on an EQ - it even had a clockwork RA motor.

It looked a bit like the one in the classics section made for Dixons by Prinz I think.

It went to the great obs in the sky a long time ago. When the kids arrived it got put in the loft, then in the garage and eventually it was just wrecked from neglect. It went to a skip shortly before I moved to Redhill and hadnt been used for maybe 20 years at least.

[yeti monster]

My first scope was/is my lovely Prinz 84mm newtonian, recently resurrected from the shed and awaiting my return to make a solar filter for it.

Opinion suggests that it is of early 1970s vintage. I paid 15 earth quids for it about 10 years ago and I think I'll be keeping it a whole lot longer.

[essex sky]

hi yeti monster

that is a lovely scope , i remember looking at the prinz scopes in my local dixons when i was a nipper.

nearly brought a 660 about 5 years ago from a local camera shop

if i remember they wanted 130 quid for it.

i have heard they are pretty good optics wise .

lance

[yeti monster]

I'd say it's still easily as good as my Celestron 114mm newt, even with the aperture difference.

[Macavity]

My Skywatcher ST102 - Still giving sterling service as the "finder" on one side of my Giro Alt-Az. And still my most enjoyable scope - Guess I just enjoy semi-random "star sweeping".

All I need now is a really good "biggun" for the other side of the mount now...

[gary1968]

My 1st proper scope was my 130SLT, wish I still had that now but alas it was sold on to fund............... my CG5GT IIRC, and it too now has gone. I am a fickle b*gg*r....lol

Gary

[alfingido]

Mine was a 6" Newtonian made by Simmons on a manual eq mount and wooden tripod.

It was pretty awful really, but gave me my first look at Saturns rings and good views of the moon.

It looked the business though! I gave it away to a local astronomy club when I bought my new Meade 125 ETX.

Allan

[essex sky]

seems like the good old 4 to 6 inch newt will always be the best

first scope:icon_salut:

clear skies

lance

[A McEwan]

Well, technically the first one I had was a Celestron Firstscope 114mm Newt on EQ, which I never understood and grew very frustrated with. I sold it to buy the first real scope I learned anything from: a Konus Vista 80mm f5 which I mounted on a sturdy photo tripod. That was a great "first scope" and I sold that to get a Meade ETX-90RA, which I also enjoyed. Then it was a... etc... this could go on for quite a while....

[dweller25]

Mine was an Astro Systems 8.5" F/5 Newtonian on a Vixen Super Polaris mount in 1985.

[acey]

My first scope was a 40mm refractor I got for Christmas when I was about ten. Was it a "proper" scope? Well, I saw the rings of Saturn, moons of Jupiter and M31 with it, and it was about as much aperture as Galileo ever had, so as far as I'm concerned it was the real thing. Next scope I got (nearly 30 years later) was an 8-inch dob. But I still reckon that the best view I ever had of Albireo was my first, with the 2-inch.