Len Philpot
Well-Known Member
I've been an amateur astronomer / observer since 1987. I was hooked after buying a set of cheap Sears 7x50 binoculars, at half price, and then taking a look upward outside one night. Although I've owned a number of telescopes over the years, I'm definitely not in the "upper echelon" of gear-head-status among amateur astronomers (much like photographers).
For what it's worth here are some (most?) of the scopes I've owned over the past 35+ years, in roughly chronological order. Virtually all of these shots are just quick cellphone (or older P&S digital) images. There's no art here!! LOL I also won't go into all the mounts that accompany some of the scopes. That's a whole 'nuther rabbit hole but suffice to say it's a mixed lot, which I moved between scopes on a regular basis.
My first scope is not pictured, a 4.5" f/8 Newtonian reflector of dubious quality. I improved it and had an optician refigure the optics until it was a nice little scope. Then naturally I sold it to make way for my second scope...
A home-built 10" (254mm) f/5.51 "Dobsonian", which is an integrated mount / structure style popularized by ATM (amateur telescope maker) John Dobson in the 1970s. I bought the more difficult to make hardware components but built the rest from plywood. It wasn't built from plans, per se, but just from other examples which I adapted for my use.
![10indob.jpg 10indob.jpg](https://realphotographersforum.com/data/attachments/16/16200-911c9f2a273e3cb9410e6af12b78abf1.jpg)
I wanted a decent refractor and bought this used Tele Vue Genesis 4" (100mm) f/5 Apochromatic ("Apo") optical tube. It has two doublet lenses in a Petzval configuration.
![021205_001.jpg 021205_001.jpg](https://realphotographersforum.com/data/attachments/16/16201-2c123b3d6881a50ceec85fed9e3af4df.jpg)
This is a much less expensive little 80"mm f/5 wide-field achromatic refractor. This type of scope is generically referred to as a "Short-tube 80". It's more for wide-FOV scanning, not high power observing. It's cheap, portable and fun, as long as you don't try to make it do something it's not designed to do. I made the tripod / mount it's on in this photo.
![IMG_6065.jpg IMG_6065.jpg](https://realphotographersforum.com/data/attachments/16/16202-7b19bb4f4bbcef1d000f55eaf462d728.jpg)
A friend and fellow astronomer passed away in 2003 from cancer and included me in her will. There were a couple of scopes as well as some eyepieces and other accessories. This one was a Meade SN-8 f/4 Schmidt Newtonian. Schmidts in general have spherical (not "figured" parabolic) primary mirrors, but include a slightly non-flat (but complex shaped) optical corrector plate ahead of the primary in the optical train to remove the spherical aberration. The Newtonian variant has a diagonal secondary mirror to direct the image outside the tube at a 90 degree angle. They're made for wide-angle viewing, with a fast f/ratio. It came on a fork mount (which I called a tuning fork mount due to its vibration), so I made a smaller Dobsonian style mount for it from the wood of another scope I got from her (which was also a Dobsonian).
![sn8_Dob.jpg sn8_Dob.jpg](https://realphotographersforum.com/data/attachments/16/16204-8b1484684d29b67cf8f66de03e4c3600.jpg)
So that other scope that I cannibalized for the mount? It was a 14.5" (368mm) f/4.5 Dobsonian. It was originally bought new by another friend, sold a few times and eventually she bought it. By that time it had been ridden hard and put up wet, so to speak. So I took the optics out of it and bought a TeleKit from Astrosystems. You provide some basic information about your optics, choose a few options and they make a custom kit from Baltic Birch 15-ply wood, cut on a CNC router. Then you put the kit together with slow-cure epoxy, sand and varnish it, add the hardware they sell with the kit and you've got a premium "Dob" for generally less than half the usual price. Here's mine (with me) after completion, 20 years ago (my hair is NOT that color anymore!!):
![032104_009.jpg 032104_009.jpg](https://realphotographersforum.com/data/attachments/16/16205-f86bf1c33874b4a90d551e4c69238eea.jpg)
I wanted a smaller "grab-n-go" scope, but one that was still large enough for serious observing. I bought this one used from a guy in St. Louis. It's a commercially made 8" f/6 Dobsonian, which I tweaked to oblivion and used for several years before selling in 2018 (I think?). It was a nice little scope:
![IMG_6038.jpg IMG_6038.jpg](https://realphotographersforum.com/data/attachments/16/16206-ad913282f5ba5c3a4df32c8e4609a1b6.jpg)
By this time I had years earlier sold the Genesis (above) and I wanted another refractor, so I got this from a friend. It's a Sky-Watcher 4" (100mm) f/9 Semi-Apo refractor. It has an ED doublet which has pretty good color correction. A more sophisticated triplet (with flourite or more exotic glass) has been correction but is MUCH more expensive.
![IMG_20180412_105544.jpg IMG_20180412_105544.jpg](https://realphotographersforum.com/data/attachments/16/16207-b72ee4123faf517b1ef885efedfc4600.jpg)
Sidebar re: prices... See that white contraption (mount) on the right-hand edge of the frame? That's an Astro-Physics mount and by itself is easily 4x (or more?) the cost of both this scope and the mount it's on.
At a "star party" (observing event) a friend sold me this "OTA" (optical tube assembly) for $40. It's also a Schmidt-Newtonian configuration, 5.5" aperture, f/3.6, called a Comet Catcher. These were made in big numbers around the time of Halley's Comet in 1986-87. Some of the production run examples were, shall we say, better than others...
This one seems to be OK, but like the Short-Tube 80, use it for its intended use for best results: Wide field, Milky Way, open clusters, etc. It came with no mount so I built a little (you guessed it) Dob-style mount that attached to an existing tripod. I eventually gave it (sans the tripod) to a friend.
![IMG_20180707_112707.jpg IMG_20180707_112707.jpg](https://realphotographersforum.com/data/attachments/16/16208-7d922489893d0aea003830a001542f79.jpg)
OK... getting more recent now. I found this little no-name / re-badged Chinese 80mm f/7.5 achromat refractor online at a good price. I still have it. It's not (the telescopic equivalent of) Leica optics, but for what it does it's fun to use.
![20170222_182428.jpg 20170222_182428.jpg](https://realphotographersforum.com/data/attachments/16/16209-ca5c3bfb0165ad7385a0363210ffa5e3.jpg)
(last two scopes in the next message)
For what it's worth here are some (most?) of the scopes I've owned over the past 35+ years, in roughly chronological order. Virtually all of these shots are just quick cellphone (or older P&S digital) images. There's no art here!! LOL I also won't go into all the mounts that accompany some of the scopes. That's a whole 'nuther rabbit hole but suffice to say it's a mixed lot, which I moved between scopes on a regular basis.
My first scope is not pictured, a 4.5" f/8 Newtonian reflector of dubious quality. I improved it and had an optician refigure the optics until it was a nice little scope. Then naturally I sold it to make way for my second scope...
A home-built 10" (254mm) f/5.51 "Dobsonian", which is an integrated mount / structure style popularized by ATM (amateur telescope maker) John Dobson in the 1970s. I bought the more difficult to make hardware components but built the rest from plywood. It wasn't built from plans, per se, but just from other examples which I adapted for my use.
![10indob.jpg 10indob.jpg](https://realphotographersforum.com/data/attachments/16/16200-911c9f2a273e3cb9410e6af12b78abf1.jpg)
I wanted a decent refractor and bought this used Tele Vue Genesis 4" (100mm) f/5 Apochromatic ("Apo") optical tube. It has two doublet lenses in a Petzval configuration.
![021205_001.jpg 021205_001.jpg](https://realphotographersforum.com/data/attachments/16/16201-2c123b3d6881a50ceec85fed9e3af4df.jpg)
This is a much less expensive little 80"mm f/5 wide-field achromatic refractor. This type of scope is generically referred to as a "Short-tube 80". It's more for wide-FOV scanning, not high power observing. It's cheap, portable and fun, as long as you don't try to make it do something it's not designed to do. I made the tripod / mount it's on in this photo.
![IMG_6065.jpg IMG_6065.jpg](https://realphotographersforum.com/data/attachments/16/16202-7b19bb4f4bbcef1d000f55eaf462d728.jpg)
A friend and fellow astronomer passed away in 2003 from cancer and included me in her will. There were a couple of scopes as well as some eyepieces and other accessories. This one was a Meade SN-8 f/4 Schmidt Newtonian. Schmidts in general have spherical (not "figured" parabolic) primary mirrors, but include a slightly non-flat (but complex shaped) optical corrector plate ahead of the primary in the optical train to remove the spherical aberration. The Newtonian variant has a diagonal secondary mirror to direct the image outside the tube at a 90 degree angle. They're made for wide-angle viewing, with a fast f/ratio. It came on a fork mount (which I called a tuning fork mount due to its vibration), so I made a smaller Dobsonian style mount for it from the wood of another scope I got from her (which was also a Dobsonian).
![sn81.jpg sn81.jpg](https://realphotographersforum.com/data/attachments/16/16203-d1ad9e926b4274a4310b159943eebd76.jpg)
![sn8_Dob.jpg sn8_Dob.jpg](https://realphotographersforum.com/data/attachments/16/16204-8b1484684d29b67cf8f66de03e4c3600.jpg)
So that other scope that I cannibalized for the mount? It was a 14.5" (368mm) f/4.5 Dobsonian. It was originally bought new by another friend, sold a few times and eventually she bought it. By that time it had been ridden hard and put up wet, so to speak. So I took the optics out of it and bought a TeleKit from Astrosystems. You provide some basic information about your optics, choose a few options and they make a custom kit from Baltic Birch 15-ply wood, cut on a CNC router. Then you put the kit together with slow-cure epoxy, sand and varnish it, add the hardware they sell with the kit and you've got a premium "Dob" for generally less than half the usual price. Here's mine (with me) after completion, 20 years ago (my hair is NOT that color anymore!!):
![032104_009.jpg 032104_009.jpg](https://realphotographersforum.com/data/attachments/16/16205-f86bf1c33874b4a90d551e4c69238eea.jpg)
I wanted a smaller "grab-n-go" scope, but one that was still large enough for serious observing. I bought this one used from a guy in St. Louis. It's a commercially made 8" f/6 Dobsonian, which I tweaked to oblivion and used for several years before selling in 2018 (I think?). It was a nice little scope:
![IMG_6038.jpg IMG_6038.jpg](https://realphotographersforum.com/data/attachments/16/16206-ad913282f5ba5c3a4df32c8e4609a1b6.jpg)
By this time I had years earlier sold the Genesis (above) and I wanted another refractor, so I got this from a friend. It's a Sky-Watcher 4" (100mm) f/9 Semi-Apo refractor. It has an ED doublet which has pretty good color correction. A more sophisticated triplet (with flourite or more exotic glass) has been correction but is MUCH more expensive.
![IMG_20180412_105544.jpg IMG_20180412_105544.jpg](https://realphotographersforum.com/data/attachments/16/16207-b72ee4123faf517b1ef885efedfc4600.jpg)
Sidebar re: prices... See that white contraption (mount) on the right-hand edge of the frame? That's an Astro-Physics mount and by itself is easily 4x (or more?) the cost of both this scope and the mount it's on.
At a "star party" (observing event) a friend sold me this "OTA" (optical tube assembly) for $40. It's also a Schmidt-Newtonian configuration, 5.5" aperture, f/3.6, called a Comet Catcher. These were made in big numbers around the time of Halley's Comet in 1986-87. Some of the production run examples were, shall we say, better than others...
![IMG_20180707_112707.jpg IMG_20180707_112707.jpg](https://realphotographersforum.com/data/attachments/16/16208-7d922489893d0aea003830a001542f79.jpg)
OK... getting more recent now. I found this little no-name / re-badged Chinese 80mm f/7.5 achromat refractor online at a good price. I still have it. It's not (the telescopic equivalent of) Leica optics, but for what it does it's fun to use.
![20170222_182428.jpg 20170222_182428.jpg](https://realphotographersforum.com/data/attachments/16/16209-ca5c3bfb0165ad7385a0363210ffa5e3.jpg)
(last two scopes in the next message)