Thoughts on getting or having a Telescope.

[Commander Wallace]

A friend of mine recently gave me an old 1950's Telescope. It is a Criterion DynaScope made in Hartford Connecticut. It has a 4 inch ( 101.6 ) mm aperture and is 46.5 inches ( 1181.1 ) mm long. It is missing the eye piece and also the front lense. It it a reflector style Newtonian Telescope. The Mirror in the back portion looks to be in excellent shape. It came with a heavy steel tripod setup with wooden legs. I was curious if this Telescope can be improved and modified since I will be purchasing other components for it.

• 

I have seen video's on youtube where people have gotten Telescope tubes made of Carbon Fiber, Fiberglass and even PVC pipe and made their own Telescopes.

With the thread " NASA "pokes" Voyager 1 spacecraft and got a response! in " started by Subsim member Platapus, I wondered if anyone else has experience with Telescopes and if so, any thoughts on them.

[August]

I've had a couple of cheap telescopes. To look at mountaintops and other earthbound stationary objects they worked well enough but for looking at the moon and planets though they were pretty much useless. It took ages to get everything in focus and adjusted only to watch the moon drift right past.



I'd like one of those computer controlled jobs that automatically track the object as it moves though the sky as I imagine it would be much less frustrating.

[em2nought]

I saw some story recently about a camera lens that's a bit older, but it was actually better than most telescopes. Having trouble finding the story though.

[Rockstar]

Originally Posted by Commander Wallace

A friend of mine recently gave me an old 1950's Telescope. It is a Criterion DynaScope made in Hartford Connecticut. It has a 4 inch ( 101.6 ) mm aperture and is 46.5 inches ( 1181.1 ) mm long. It is missing the eye piece and also the front lense. It it a reflector style Newtonian Telescope. The Mirror in the back portion looks to be in excellent shape. It came with a heavy steel tripod setup with wooden legs. I was curious if this Telescope can be improved and modified since I will be purchasing other components for it.

• 

I have seen video's on youtube where people have gotten Telescope tubes made of Carbon Fiber, Fiberglass and even PVC pipe and made their own Telescopes.

With the thread " NASA "pokes" Voyager 1 spacecraft and got a response! in " started by Subsim member Platapus, I wondered if anyone else has experience with Telescopes and if so, any thoughts on them.

Newtonian’s have been around for a looong long time, they’re great scopes. It’s such a simple reflector design, other than maintenance and repair I can’t think of much that can be done to improve them imo. You should have fun nights with that one.

By “front lens” do you mean the secondary mirror, stalk and the spider vanes?



Here’s my stuff I put on a celestron AVX go to mount.

[Commander Wallace]

Originally Posted by Rockstar

Newtonian’s have been around for a looong long time, they’re great scopes. It’s such a simple reflector design, other than maintenance and repair I can’t think of much that can be done to improve them imo. You should have fun nights with that one.

By “front lens” do you mean the secondary mirror, stalk and the spider vanes?



Here’s my stuff I put on a celestron AVX go to mount.

Your understanding of Telescopes is much better than mine, I'm sure. All of the above is missing in the front, Rockstar. The entire assembly. I saw a video that I saved on another computer that explains in depth How to make sure all the components all work together, including the eye piece magnification for the best possible views.


I seem to recall Subsim member Rockin' Robbins used computers with his telescope setups. He mentioned he got great views of the Planets and such. I am less than a novice when it comes down to Telescopes but with warm summer night fast approaching......



Btw Rockstar, that's a great looking rig you have.
Thanks for the input, Guys.

[Rockstar]

Only other thing I can think to get would be a moon filter. It’s pretty bright you’ll get a headache and be seeing spots all night without one.

[mapuc]

Even I have now and then been thinking of buying a decent telescope-But such a device cost multi. I'm fascinated by the planets.

I had a dream to buy one where I could see Jupiter clearly.

Markus

[Rockstar]

Originally Posted by mapuc

Even I have now and then been thinking of buying a decent telescope-But such a device cost multi. I'm fascinated by the planets.

I had a dream to buy one where I could see Jupiter clearly.

Markus

Doesn’t have to be expensive it’s fun looking around just with a decent set of binoculars too No telescope or binoculars? Take a star chart with you on a clear night and learn to identify what you see, chicks dig it . Though with so much light pollution it’s hard to find dark skies.

[mapuc]

Originally Posted by Rockstar

Doesn’t have to be expensive it’s fun looking around just with a decent set of binoculars too No telescope or binoculars? Take a star chart with you on a clear night and learn to identify what you see, chicks dig it . Though with so much light pollution it’s hard to find dark skies.

There's not so much light pollution where I live.
We are only 300 or so living in our neighbourhood(around 6000 total on our island)

Markus

[Jimbuna]

Only ever had a kids telescope at a young age but about thirty years ago whilst on holiday in Andorra the wife purchased me a pair of Carton zoom 10x-30x50 binoculars and they are fine for looking at shipping off our local coastline.

[em2nought]

My toy telescope "box" made an excellent Graf Spee once it went to the ship fitters for a Lego superstructure & turrets. I played hooky to see that movie, or was that "Sink the Bismarck" I don't remember? Maybe both.

[Aktungbby]

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

Only ever had a kids telescope at a young age but about thirty years ago whilst on holiday in Andorra the wife purchased me a pair of Carton zoom 10x-30x50 binoculars and they are fine for looking at shipping off our local coastline.

[Platapus]

I guess it would depend on how much this telescope is selling for and how much it would cost you to replace the missing parts.

[mapuc]

Seems to recall an issue in an episode of the Universe where some astronomers had paid rent for a days use of a large telescope in..was it Chile ?

Secondly what does a decent telescope cost ?

Found this page

https://optcorp.com/blogs/customer-h...telescope-cost

Markus

[Sean C]

My first telescope was a Celestron Travel Scope 80. At the time, it cost me $120 ($140 now) and it comes with a backpack so you can take it anywhere. I listened to the common wisdom that your first scope should be easy to set up and lightweight, and I'm glad I did. I was able to get some amazing views after only a few minutes of setup time. I also bought a sturdier tripod, a couple of Barlow lenses and a four-pack of filters for a total of about $415.*

With that setup (and a mount for my phone at about $30) I was able to record these videos:










I had noticed a defect in the telescope when trying to view the planets. After a brief inspection, I found that the objective lens wasn't properly seated. This was easily fixed by loosening the lock ring, resetting the lens and then re-tightening the lock ring. After doing that, I was able to record this video while simply holding my phone up to the eyepiece:





Meanwhile, I had my eye on the Celestron Omni XLT 120. (I like refractors because they're simple.) But it was back ordered for a few years. As luck would have it, when it was finally available I happened to have the funds on hand. So, I bought it. And I love it.


(Guitar for scale.)




Set up takes considerably longer - given the German equitorial mount and the sheer size of it. But the increase in resolution is totally worth it.

I'm almost embarrassed to post the following video. I recorded it with the same Samsung Galaxy S20 FE held to the eyepiece of the Omni XLT 120 by hand. But the phone's camera is out of focus. The actual view was stable and absolutely stunning.





One day I will get a proper imaging setup. Either a better mount for my phone (which has excellent imaging sensors) or a dedicated telescope imaging sensor. Then, I will be able to provide much better examples of what I am seeing.


Cheers!
Sean C.






*
Celestron Travel Scope 80: $119.95
(Includes 20mm and 10mm eyepieces and star diagonal.)
https://www.celestron.com/products/t...tphone-adapter

Celestron Heavy Duty Azimuth Tripod: $99.95
(Original tripod was too flimsy and had no slow motion controls.)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Omni 2X Barlow Lens - 1.25": $57.95
https://www.celestron.com/products/o...low-lens-125in

X-Cel LX 3X Barlow Lens - 1.25": $92.74
https://www.amazon.com/Celestron-934...364/ref=sr_1_1

Lunar and Planetary Filter Set - 1.25": $44.95
https://www.celestron.com/products/l...lter-set-125in

Total: $415.54 + tax/s&h

Minimum for Moon images: $212.69