Astroscan

[rogerg (Roger)]

A good family friend passed away unexpectedly a little while ago. He was a casual amateur astronomer, having an appreciation for the night sky even if he didn't have large telescopes.

I was given the opportunity to have his Astroscan and jumped at the chance to have one of these classic and so unique telescopes. It'll be fun to look through sometime, see what it's views look like

I'm also going to need to work out how to clean the front glass plate which appears to be smeared on the inside and out, and how to collimate it.

[Blue Skies (Jacquie)]

Oooh, I want one of them...

I don't think you can collimate them, but I'll be happy to be proved wrong.

I know the front plate can come off as I've heard of other people doing it, but not had the opportunity to try myself, however. If no one else chips in here I'll slip you the name of the person I know who cleaned one for ASWA in the past and perhaps he'll help you with it.

[rrussell1962]

Hi Roger, I recently took my Astroscan apart to clean the optics,, replace the foam pad behind the primary mirror (the pad breaks down over time and the primary goes out of adjustment) and collimate the scope on reassembly. Not a job for the faint hearted. If you do a search on Gary Seronik Astroscan you will find some excellent tips. The scope is collimated at the factory, but adjustments can be made by shimming the glass plate that holds the secondary. Cleaning is the usual distilled water, drop of washing up liquid and lint free cotton ball method. The main problem I encountered was releasing the split ring that holds the primary and remounting the primary without touching it - the primary needs to be pushed back slightly against the pressure of the foam pad so that it is held in place by the split ring. The whole process is possible but a bit tricky.

Good luck. If you are still uncertain after reading what Gary Seronik had to say about it, feel free to PM me and I can provide a bit more detail about what I did.

[rogerg (Roger)]

thank you both, all food for thought.

I'll get it out and assess the optical situation soon, go from there.

Fun looking scope

[GUS.K (Ivan)]

Hi Roger, I had the Astroscan in the late 80s and regrettably sold it when aperture fever struck,but remember many memorable views through it and the supplied Edmund 28mm Kellner(an interesting eyepiece in its own right).
The field of view was about 3 degrees,and the view showed coma(as it would for a fast mirror) towards the outer third of the view, but the image was bright and was great on star clusters,Nebula and the Milky way ,for which it was primarily intended for.

[brian nordstrom (As avatar)]

Hi Roger , I found one of these in a Cash Converters shop a few years ago and put a lady friend on to buying it as she was heading off to Uni for a few years and wanted a small grab and go scope and as already said the supplied 28mm is good but shows coma , but with my 19 and 24mm Pans the views were amazing , bright and showing lots of detail in the southern milky way , great little scope , one thing tho the clamp ( friction ? ) arrangement that holds the eyepieces in is very !! tight when using TV eyepieces , but we sorted that out easily enough ..

I wonder if she still has it ? .
Enjoy this classic scope .

Brian.

[rrussell1962]

Hi Roger, as you will have noticed there is a split in the focusser tube which grips the eyepiece barrel. I have found that when changing eyepieces it is easy to yank the telescope off target. If you are planning any additional eyepieces for the Astroscan I found that it helps to find ones which have a smooth barrel without an indent. They then just slide into the focusser without moving the telescope.

Richard