Well look what I got from Cash Converters on saturday , This sweet thing .. .
Its a Tasco , model , 11T , 450 power , 114mm f/900 Newtonion , whew ! , what a mouthfull .
But seriously I payed $40 for it and what a state the poor thing was in , for a start the covers looked like they had not been fitted for years , the mirrors were filthy , cobwebs in the tube , missing screws every where , but I could see the potential .
I got this for a young friend just starting out in astronomy , you all know how it is ,, broke and not much chance of getting anything soon ...
Anyway I invited him over on saturday arvo and over a few beers we stripped her down , cleaned all the spider webs out , blasted the mirrors under the tap and started soaking them in a diluted sunlight soap and water mix .
Tony played with the EQ2 mount it came with but it has major problems inside eg. damaged shafts so it will never run smooth , poor Tony was broken .
But , I have a Meade LX500 mount in the cupboard , young fella .. so away we went adapting it to the tripod and tube assembly , and a few holes drilled and tapped and a few bolts and the empty tube was mounted on a suprisingly sturdy set up , cool .
Fast forward to last night , Tony came around and together we blow dried the mirrors , inspected them , which came out very well considering the state they were in .
I got tony to reassemble them into there cells ( which are very well made ) and helped him columinate them .
Now the fun beguins .. .
I only have my 2 off .965 Zeiss eyepieces from my Teleminator a 16mm and 25mm ( 56x and 36x ) and so out we went , the moon was awsome for a $40 scope , good detail and contrast impressive !
acrux was easily split , and stars were nice round balls and lots of other objects seen , that LX500 mount is a great mount for this OTA , woaw !
Tony wanted it there and then , but no !! my Zeiss eyepieces stay with me "young fella" , so we went online and ordered a 25mm and 9mm Kelners ( 36x and 100x ) from Claude at AEC , $25 each in the .965 inch size , they will be here in a few days poor young Tony is bursting , I hope he can wait that long .
So for the princely sum of $90 we have another budding amateur astronomer in our midst ,, cool .
Hope you all enjoy this as much as I have , I love helping young people on there way in our great hobby . .
Brian.
Ha ha , thanks , I just recieved a Tx from young Tony and he asked if it's ok to come around tonight again , with a couple of mates for another session ,, Hell yea 'Young Fella ' , The astronomy bug has bitten deep in that one ?? . cool .
This remindes me so much of me when I was a poor young aprentice and an older ( richer ) astronomer helped me out in so many ways , what goes aroung comes around , neat. .
Brian
A Tasco 11T was my first telescope . Paid $600 for it and bought a 40mm eyepiece on the recommendation of Mike Smith at Bintel when they were down at the Hunter connection. Best lens to use on it by far. The others were very mediocre.
Trevor confiscated it a few years ago and sold it for $120. It had a clock drive on it and it had gears fitted to the shafts to take digital setting circles. Looked at Saturn, Jupiter and M42. I used it for a year or so and then had a look at Saturn through a 8" Dobsonian at a Macquarie open night. That was it I had to have one of those and built it from parts. Great views!
, I hear you Barry , this one gives great views as well .
I only hope the .965 eyepieces comming are of good quality , I think they will comming from AEC .
I hope it was not all the quality of my Zeiss eyepieces ?? .but the mirrors look well made and as I said the cells are very well designed and made .
Brian.
The guys have gone home now so ,,,,
,,,, I am more and more impressed with the optics of Tony's Tasco 11T than ever , we had a good night tonight , Tony ,3 of his mate and me , the moon was awsome as usual , we could even make out Mars as a tiny disc at 56x using my Zeiss 16mm ortho , cool as .
I could not help my self , so I grabbed my Takahashi FS60C and with a 6mm Vixen Lanthium giving 59x we had a little comparo test , 60mm fl/355 flourite refractor vrs 114mm fl/900mm newt reflector ,, $90 vrs $1300 , Not counting eyepieces , Hmmmm ..
it was a close race the 114mm had a slight advantage sometimes , but the 60mm did at times as well . Me , I was personally most impressed as to how the Tasco stood up against the best in the world 60mm Tak Flourite , very close indeed ..
I will say the Tak had the edge on contrast , and a little on sharpness but thats about all ,
Judge for your selves , the 1st photo is both scopes together cooling down 10 miniutes , max .
The second is the Takahashi FR60C at 59x using my 6mm Viven LV .
The third is the Tasco 11T at 56x using the best 16mm Zeiss Ortho.
So there is no worries on the eyepieces , seeing is excellent here tonight .
The only vairable is my holding the HTC smart phone " Just Right ? "
Remember 2nd photo Tak , 3rd photo Tasco .
Judge for yourselves . have fun . .
Brian.
ha ha , I answered this thread on your 11inch Celestron thread , so see that ...
You were so lucky , Rod and still are to still have your Tasco 11T .
Brian.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rod771
Nice one Brian
I got the 11TR for Christmas years ago, it still does an ok job now.
Well tuesday night was a blinder here up north , Tony and his dad came over , tried out the .965inch eyepieces ( in the Tasco 11T and were rapped ! ). The moon and later on Jupiter looked so good , poor old Tony couldn't get his Dad away and have a look himself , cool . .
They left around midnight , with the new edition to the family and a happy one at that .
Photos tomorrow night of the hand over .
Brian.
Ha ha , thanks , I just recieved a Tx from young Tony and he asked if it's ok to come around tonight again , with a couple of mates for another session ,, Hell yea 'Young Fella ' , The astronomy bug has bitten deep in that one ?? . cool .
This remindes me so much of me when I was a poor young aprentice and an older ( richer ) astronomer helped me out in so many ways , what goes aroung comes around , neat. .
Brian
Pay it forward eh ? Only way to go. As a starter I reckon a decent 114 newt is a good beginners scope. It's looks like a 'real' scope and in half decent skies it can be amazingly capable. I still have my 'Blue Newt' which keeps being dragged out. last use wasa week ago doing drift alignment with the DSLR. Just right FOV for a minute or so of stop start imaging to see the deviation.
Nice one Brian !!
Well look what I got from Cash Converters on saturday , This sweet thing ..
.
, missing screws every where , but I could see the potential . 
.
.
so away we went adapting it to the tripod and tube assembly , and a few holes drilled and tapped and a few bolts and the empty tube was mounted on a suprisingly sturdy set up , cool 
.
.
"young fella" , so we went online and ordered a 25mm and 9mm Kelners ( 36x and 100x ) from Claude at AEC , $25 each in the .965 inch size , they will be here in a few days 
poor young Tony is bursting , I hope he can wait that long 
. 
.
.but the mirrors look well made and as I said the cells are very well designed and made .
OOPs , I forgot to mention both shots from both scopes were focused on the termimator .
