My first scope was a UNITRON 3" Equatorial Refractor purchased in 1973 as the Tasco 60mm equatorial initially bought had a faulty mount and my Dad returned it for this one. I still have it and its in excellent condition after all these 40 years.
My first telescope was a self made 6 inch reflector back in 1965 when in second year at Taroona High School in Hobart. I had been inspired by the views through another student's reflector and determined to build one myself. I ground the mirror in a cramped space under the family home. Dad helped with some fabrication and the building of an alt-az mount on a steel tripod.
It was quite successful and I remember many cold but enjoyable nights exploring the night sky. I entered the scope and my observations in the then BHP Science Talent Search and was fortunate enough to win one of the major prizes.
Unfortunately the scope was lost when our house and farm was destroyed by the 1967 bush fires. Then came a long break whilst at Uni, a career on the Australian mainland and a family. Astronomy is now quickly becoming my main interest having finished work. And yes I am setting out to build another reflector - the design is complete and work will start soon.
My first scope back in 1981 was a Vixen Refractor. I think it was 60mm or 80mm version with rack and pinion focuser. It was on a very stable wooden tripod with eyepiece accessory tray with flexible slow motion alt azimuth mount controls.
It was a great little refractor and I spend many hours from early evening till wee hours of the morning with my eye glued to the eyepiece :-)
Plastic department store Bushmaster F700. 700mm focal length 60mm objective. Wooden tripod. Rickety and only 2 of the 3 eyepieces were really worth using (though I did still push and try to use the terrible 4mm plossl).
I have a few parallels with other responders. Growing up in Glasgow, the local firm Charles Frank Ltd was the obvious source of optical delight. I pored over their catalogue as a tiddler for (probably) months, before I was treated to a 40mm/30x Janik refractor on a table-top mount; this was around 1972, I guess. With that little scope, I 'discovered' Saturn, with the tube poking through the skylight; not the best way to observe, but it worked up to a point. I also tracked the movement of Uranus for a few months in 1973 (near Spica, IIRC). I certainly wasn't put off by its small size, and still have that scope today (minus the mount).
Having proved my interest, it was followed by a typical 60mm with all the bits - wooden tripod, couple of eyepieces, Barlow, image erector, solar filter... I both liked and disliked this scope. I liked the extra magnification, slow motion controls, etc, but the mechanical quality of the mount left something to be desired. Still, it did me for another couple of years, I guess, until Dear Old Dad bought one of Charles Frank's own models at auction - a 6-inch reflector on a driven German mount. I have no idea where the 60mm went, but I still have the 6-inch to this day. The drive is kaputt and the whole thing is antiquated (1¼-inch RAS-threaded eyepieces); the Newtonian flat went missing in the move Down Under, so I replaced it 'temporarily' with a piece of front-silvered mirror from an old photocopier ... at least 10 years ago...
Since then I've acquired a Russian Tal-Alkor (65mm Newtonian - brilliant optical quality; diffraction-limited, I'd say) and a junkshop find - the tube from a cheap refractor; I removed the broken rack & pinion focuser and wedged a surplus eyepiece in place to give me about 15x with a 65mm f/10-ish objective. With a ¼-inch BSW nut epoxied into the original mount bracket, it now goes on my photographic tripod for a quick look at the Moon and other large objects (not my bank balance).
So, not put off at all; I was led into a photographic career at the UK Schmidt Telescope Unit and more recently as a presenter at the Brisbane Planetarium. All from a 40mm refractor
The most interesting first post I have read! Welcome Duncan!
Mine was a Bushnell Spacemaster 60mm refractor, given that I can't find any photos of the model I have, I can only assume it was made some time between 1940 and 60's as models from the late 60's ad onwards bear little resemblance to mine. It was given to me second hand by my brother in the 70's. A quick google seach shows that they were, and still are, highly regarded as spotting scopes. I used it to view Halleys comet back in 1986.
Made in Japan with a superb prismatic focussing system and screw in EP's solid as a rock, could probably withstand a nuclear blast.
I still have it tucked away in the cupboard, I really should get it out and have a play.
Last edited by acropolite; 18-06-2013 at 12:57 PM.
One night, about 9 years ago, my wife and I let out our greyhounds for a final stroll, and she looked up and noticed a meteor arcing across our Long Island skies! As it faded away -and we resumed breathing - we talked about always wanting a telesope when growing up. We did some research on those "goto" scopes by Meade and Celestron and checked them out at our local Camera/bino/telescope store. It was a toss up between a Meade 5" mak and the Celestron Nexstar 8i goto's. The Celestron's larger aperture won out and we enjoyed that wonderful scope for a number of years. We enjoyed many fine views of Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and even Uranus and Neptune (as bloated blue and green dots). We never forgot our first view of Saturn and Orion Nebula in the C8!
The years passed and many telescopes came and went. We now enjoy viewing the night skies with a venerable "manual" 10" Teleport dob but there are times that I miss that C8i for it's sturdy mount, dependable goto functionality and great optics. One never forgets the thrill of "first light" with his/her first Telescope. That blazing meteor ignited our long lost interest in the wonders of the night sky - and those wonders will never cease for us.
George, NY
The most interesting first post I have read! Welcome Duncan!
Thanks John. I've obviously been a bit slow in saying hello on here - how time flies! Having left the Scottish skies behind, I also left the three main things I used to be active in - aurora, NLC and meteors. But then again, I was never a very assiduous observer and despite my photographic beginnings, I became largely content to see what others produced in the way of stunning photographs. Maybe I'll progress to serious amateur status one day, before I turn up my toes ;-)
In 1985 I bought a Perl Vixen 65mm refractor on an alt/az wooden tripod. I think it was a doublet. It had a tray with a few eyepieces. I bought it to see Halley comet in April which I saw as a soft blob. Later that year I sold it and bought an electric guitar.
Hi all,
Just getting into the mood of this thread.
My first scope was a 10" f5.6 dob that I made myself (mirror included). It underwent a couple of remakes: from the original "cannon"-style with a metal tube to a small esky-sized box that I could assemble in about 2 minutes.
I remember heading off to a star party one weekend, and being pulled over for a routine breathalyser test (which I passed by the way ). The policeman was most concerned at the cannon/rocket-launcher/whatever in the back of my station wagon!
Unfortunately the scope was stolen (just after I had re-figured the mirror so it was nearly perfect!!!), along with my trailer and a heap of gear, and has probably ended up on a junk-pile in some hoon's backyard.
I later built a 12" version- still esky-sized- but this time I cheated and bought a GSO mirror.
Not quite the same as the first one though!
- Dean
My first scope was my imagination and a book called Stars of the Australian and New Zealand skies by Patrick Moore that my mother bought me for my 11th birthday. I read it back to back so many times trying to understand the "concepts"(this is how I remember it),of Light,maths,time and where I stood on the ground.I spent countless hours in the Canterbury Municipal Library (on canterbury road next to the station for those who remember),trying to find up to date info on stuff that Patrick was writing about. It slowly became clear that the book that I had at home was the up to date stuff.The edition she bought, that I still have today was the 1980 edition. I thought ,excuse the French, the pictures were so f$%*ing fantstic! They look like cartoon drawings compared to the stuff now! Anyhow time past,I come from a fishing family and later on in life when I was 28 ,I was on a trawler ,F.V. Imlay towing a net North at 3.4 knots just outside of three Nautical miles off GreenCape Southern NSW sunbaking on the bow for a few minutes when, and I quote my own mind here,"a green flaming thing" went "Zot" into the water not 30m off the port bow. When we unloaded and due to weather, had a day at home, Idrove to Bega and was lucky enough to find a 110ml reflector Tasco,still in the box for $20. Iwill put it up against the 250ml Meade I now also have,in certain situations, any day. I will never part with it.
I probably should mention my first astronomical society meeting. well once I joined the Grafton Astronomical Society, I was invited to a viewing out at (stu Campbell's ,whom probably does not want to be mentioned,sorry stu.)and after cooking afew snags on his barbq and setting up my scope, was introduced to a late arrival,whoom set up his 8'' dob and proceeded to show me around the sky. Thank you Mr.Evans for the 3hrs of sky touring you could afford. I can still gather more Galaxies into an eyepiece than anyone I know to this day! The Rev Bob Evans is a Legend!
Despite a life long love of astronomy, wearing out the print on a Sir Patrick Moore astronomy book and visits to Sydney Observatory, except for a REALLY BAD refractor telescope from Kmart when I was 10 - my first telescope was a Saxon 114mm reflector when I turn 40!
I'd long wanted to get one, but various other things kept coming up in life - I wanted to wait til I could afford a good one but it was hard to justify. 18 months ago I got a credit card "rewards points" statement and lo and behold, I could get a telescope. The picture showed some refractor - it looked ok and was basically going to be "free".
I sent away for it, took a month and when it arrived my wife freaked at the huge box that arrived! Turns out it wasn't the scope in the picture!
Since then I've used it mainly for observing the moon and planets, although I'm starting to think about learning more, maybe upgrading etc.
I got my first scope when I was 8 years old, the Tasco 40mm refractor, I was so excited just to see the moon. The tiny table top tripod it came with was useless , so my dad modified one of his camera tripods to attach it to.
In 1988 I received my Tasco 11T-R reflector for Christmas. Again I just looked at the moon as I never polar aligned it at all, all those years ago. Got it working great early last year and viewed Saturn through a scope for the first time, amazing.
This picture was taken on the day I picked up my CGEM DX 1100 HD last year.
I wonder how big the box (or boxes) will be for my next scope
hi All,
I got my first scope at 62yrs young,
as my SILaw is a keen Astronomer, and has been for many years,
I joined in to sky watching & star gazing
I have been travelling a lot in the outback and country with caravan in tow,
with beautiful clear unpolluted skies, that when I look up, you see everything,
even some unexplained,
I started with a pair of 20 X 50mm Bino's,
then graduated too a travelling 90mm Meade DS 2090 Mak, easy & light with a not so good mount,
have recently upgraded to a 6in S/Watcher refractor, also
a 102mm APO triplet TAK refractor, on a good Vixen mount, safe & sturdy,
all these scopes travel with me at all times
many Tele-Vue & Meade eyepieces, Barlows, and Acc's to make viewing great,
my aim is too dabble in some astrophotography, not big time, for interest
sake, show & tell thingy,
over the few years of having got better gear it is a pleasure to view,
I started experimenting with lenses in my early teens
made a few scope attempts......even trying a large movie projector mirror
results largely unsuccessful.
My first scope was an 8" F7 newtonian from Astro Optical Supplies in the late 1970's. I saved for about 9 months and also got a sampson equatorial mount.
The ep's were 40mm AH, 22mm Kellner, 9 and 4mm orthoscopic.
The 8" F7 was a totally stunning mirror......a pity no one does 8" F7 anymore
I remember Astro Optical being very unsympathetic to a wide eye'd 13 year old with his parents. And Astro was about the only place around. There were also massive looking unitron refractors. With massive price tags to match, something like $4000- for a 4" F10 refractor. Obvious "pie in the sky" for a kid like me.
I cracked the back of 8" F7 later and replaced it with an F6 and cut the tube down.
Since then I've had many scopes
But I still miss the old 8 incher
