[FlashDrive (Poppy)]

Some time ago, I purchased an old 80mm f/15 Scope.
It was a little sad in its condition...needed a new Focuser...the Optics are in top shape....it just needed a little TLC to bring it back to life.

A strip down / sand & repaint / New MoonLite Focuser ..... ready to put to use.

First light last night .... clear skies over Deception Bay ... Jupiter / Mars and Saturn were easily visible with the naked eye.

Eyepieces used, 21mm Denkmeier / 18mm Smooth side Japanese Plossl / 35mm Ultrascopic / WO 15mm @72*

I used a 1.25 Baader Prism Diagonal because ( believe it or not ) was better then my 2" inch WO Quartz Diagonal ... just gave me a brighter image.....

First Jupiter ... just lovely to see ... bands easily seen and 4 of her moons. Jupiter was bright to look at as it steadily moved across the fov
and to my delight , not a hint of any CA whatsoever.
I followed it for sometime and ' tweaked ' the Focuser as I changed to different eyepieces.

Mars .... was like an ' orange ball ' ..... had a ' orangery ' appearance and bright to, but not blinding , watched her for a while, but didn't spend to much time there.

Now Saturn, she was something else.....leaning on an angle with its rings almost sideways to us was just beautiful. I stayed with the 15mm @72* for most of my viewing on her. The background night sky was black on black which made viewing very pleasing with any Scope for that matter.
The ' separating ' of the rings from the planet stood out ever so clearly.

The f/15 focal length gave exceptionally sharp views .... focusing was a breeze and eyepieces snapped into focus readily. No ' hunting ' for the right ' spot ' ... clean / sharp viewing.

who was it that said ' f/15 rules ' .... Mr Moore if I remember rightly, and he has good reason to say this.

But for me .... any Scope with decent optics and quality is a joy to use.

An f/15 has its place in the stable of this hobby, to be enjoyed along with all the rest.

Col....