My first solar scope (150 F/8 unaluminized reflector)

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My first solar scope (150 F/8 unaluminized reflector)

Post by pedro »

My first solar scope (150 F/8 unaluminized reflector)

Check out two images of my first solar scope. I made the mirror myself in 1973. It is a 150mm F/8 reflector with an unaluminized mirror. It was mainly used for visual observation with a polarized and UV/IR filter.

Image150F8_solaer_scope_20200814-001 by Pedro Ré, on Flickr

Image150F8_solaer_scope_20200814-003 by Pedro Ré, on Flickr

And the telescopes I used from 1973 to 1978

Imagemosaic2 by Pedro Ré, on Flickr

Image
1978

Image
1978

Image
1973/1975

150mm F/8 Reflector (1973)
150mm F/8 Reflector (1974)
150mm F/4 Reflector (1974)
300mm F/7.1 Reflector (1975)
300mm F/7.1 Reflector (1978)

You can check out the whole telescope collection in these links:
http://pedroreastrophotography.com/telescopes-01.html
http://www.astrosurf.com/re/telescopes.html


Telescopes & Observatories | Pedro RE' (1973/2020)
Last edited by pedro on Tue Aug 18, 2020 11:10 am, edited 4 times in total.


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Re: My first solar scope (150 F/8 unaluminized reflector)

Post by dhkaiser »

Fun scopes!


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Re: My first solar scope (150 F/8 unaluminized reflector)

Post by Montana »

Wow!! well done Pedro!! how amazing to make your own scope :hamster:

However, the first image does look like a huge toilet roll tube :lol: sorry, I couldn't help myself :)

Alexandra


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Re: My first solar scope (150 F/8 unaluminized reflector)

Post by DeepSolar64 »

Very nice Pedro! I have an old 6”F8 Criterion Dynascope that dates from that time. It still gives razor-sharp views. I bet your first solarscope gave really nice white light views.


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Re: My first solar scope (150 F/8 unaluminized reflector)

Post by DeepSolar64 »

And a pipe mount! A friend of mine had a 8”F6 newtonian mounted like that for years. It worked well. He later built a dobsonian mount for it.


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Re: My first solar scope (150 F/8 unaluminized reflector)

Post by p_zetner »

A great collection of scopes, Pedro.
Almost time to start a telescope museum!
Cheers.
Peter


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Re: My first solar scope (150 F/8 unaluminized reflector)

Post by Montana »

Don't worry Peter, he does have one, I have seen it :hamster: beautiful collections of telescopes, eyepieces, cameras, even computers through the ages :hamster:

Alexandra


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Re: My first solar scope (150 F/8 unaluminized reflector)

Post by DeepSolar64 »

He has a beautiful place too!!


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Re: My first solar scope (150 F/8 unaluminized reflector)

Post by MalVeauX »

Really great Pedro!

Very best,


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Re: My first solar scope (150 F/8 unaluminized reflector)

Post by pedro »

Thanks guys

The solar scope has a cardboard tube and it was my first telescope (it does look like a huge toilet roll tube Alexandra :lol: ). Back in the day we had to build these scopes.

James: I also have a Criterion Dynamax SCT 8" F/10.5 in my collection
Image

You can check out the whole telescope collection in these links:
http://pedroreastrophotography.com/telescopes-01.html
http://www.astrosurf.com/re/telescopes.html

best regards
Last edited by pedro on Mon Aug 17, 2020 8:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.


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Re: My first solar scope (150 F/8 unaluminized reflector)

Post by EGRAY_OBSERVATORY »

Oh Pedro, such an interesting collections you have literally built-up over the years...

Between the "toilet-roll" equivalent and the later "coffin" type too, you have certainly put some dedication into your designs and manufacture.

I have been collecting myself a large number of tubes for possible self-designing and making, but other than a Spectroscope have not (yet) got further..

Thanks for your efforts
Regards
Terry


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Re: My first solar scope (150 F/8 unaluminized reflector)

Post by ffellah »

Very interesting, Pedro. I did not know they ever manufactured telescopes in Connecticut, apart from the Hubble mirror at Perkin Elmer. West Hartford is less than an hour from where I live. How old is that scope ?

Franco


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Re: My first solar scope (150 F/8 unaluminized reflector)

Post by DeepSolar64 »

Awesome, Pedro! I remember seeing the ads to those Dynamax SCTs back in the 1970's. I always heard they were very hit and miss on quality. Some performed well while others sucked. How does this one do?

James


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Re: My first solar scope (150 F/8 unaluminized reflector)

Post by Carbon60 »

Very interesting, Pedro.

It would be really interesting to see all of your scopes in a type of catalogue. I had heard from Alexandra some time ago that you’ve got quite a collection.

Stu.


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Re: My first solar scope (150 F/8 unaluminized reflector)

Post by pedro »

Thanks guys

The Criterion scopes were not known for its optical quality. The one I have is not that bad, similar to an old C8 (orange tube)


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Re: My first solar scope (150 F/8 unaluminized reflector)

Post by DeepSolar64 »

pedro wrote: Sat Aug 15, 2020 3:27 pm Thanks guys

The Criterion scopes were not known for its optical quality. The one I have is not that bad, similar to an old C8 (orange tube)
Their Newtonians were much better. Mine gives tack sharp images. Mine has been modified a little though. I downsized the diagonal to a size just barely bigger than the light cone that hits it to minimize the central obstruction to increase contrast. The difference is not much though. The original did very well. I have thought about replacing the original spider with a S shaped one which would eliminate diffraction spikes.


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Re: My first solar scope (150 F/8 unaluminized reflector)

Post by Bob Yoesle »

Wow - that's really a nice history pedro! And speaking of toilet rolls...

Your post reminded me of my first home made telescope - also a 6 inch f/8 cardboard tube Newt on a pipe mount. I ground and figured the mirror in the 7th grade (top left, next to my 1962 Christmas present - a 60 mm Unitron ;-). Following this almost exactly 50 years (!) ago was the 8 inch f/7 with a resin covered cardboard tube I built in the 8th grade - also made the mirror, but had to go with an equatorial. Got serious with the 12.5 inch Cave in 1975, most spectacular views of the moon and planets ever! Added the Daystar filter in 1976 on the piggybacked 80 mm f/15 refractor... The start of my long detour into all things solar and culminating (thus far anyway) with the SM140/90 DS DIY project. I'm headed back to the dark side a bit now - last picture is my toilet tube OTA model of my retirement project - a 20 inch f/5 Zambuto primaried Newt on a split-ring equatorial... piggybacking my AP130 EDT - hopefully done sometime next year.
Collection SM.jpg
Collection SM.jpg (452.51 KiB) Viewed 1589 times
I've had various Celestron's and other scope's, but those early homemade instruments are my most cherished memories. Wish I had kept them.

Thanks for reminding me.


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Re: My first solar scope (150 F/8 unaluminized reflector)

Post by pedro »

Thanks for your post Bob. Very interesting story and some nice homemade instruments. I kept almost all my telescopes.

best regards


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Re: My first solar scope (150 F/8 unaluminized reflector)

Post by EGRAY_OBSERVATORY »

Hi again Pedro and Bob.
Bob you have also done well with the DIY and thanks for your memories and images of.

I wonder whether a new page under the "This is Solar Chat" set of pages could be opened for these historical items of "Our Telescope Making History" albeit I would still like to see these on here too, as they show what our hobby and interests have grown out of 'toilet-rolls' etc...

Perhaps we should ask Stephen or Mark or Alexandra - what they think ??

Best Wishes
Terry


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Re: My first solar scope (150 F/8 unaluminized reflector)

Post by DeepSolar64 »

I have a few classics. A Criterion RV-6 Dynascope, an Edmund AstroScan and a Coulter dobsonian. I always wanted a Cave, Unitron and a Celestron C8. Though no longer American made the C8 still survives and is said to be superior to the old models. And it can be bought as the HaT 🎩 ☀️ solar variant.


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Re: My first solar scope (150 F/8 unaluminized reflector)

Post by Derek Klepp »

Cheers Pedro love that pipe mount.They are very practical.
Derek


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Re: My first solar scope (150 F/8 unaluminized reflector)

Post by pedro »

Thanks Derek

I found this scope recently in my garage unattended for many years. After some cleaning it looks as good as "new" ;-)


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Re: My first solar scope (150 F/8 unaluminized reflector)

Post by robert »

Brilliant, history, blue sky and a great collection
Robert


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Re: My first solar scope (150 F/8 unaluminized reflector)

Post by pedro »

Thanks Robert


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Re: My first solar scope (150 F/8 unaluminized reflector)

Post by Rusted »

Back in the 60s and 70s there was far more telescope making than telescope buying.

Here are my entirely home made 5" f/15 BK7/F2 achromat in a drainpipe.
The offset Berry style fork was mouted on a scaffolding pole tripod.

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The image was taken from an old film print.

I wrote my own BBC Basic ray tracing software later to check my curves. It could design and graph APO triplets as well.
I thought I would start making 6" APOs but the cost of the Schott blanks back then were beyond belief!

The 12" Dobsonian was made entirely from scratch for absolute peanuts for a stranger I never met.
Any plans to start an optical company were immediately cancelled.[Again!]

I exhibited my stressed skin, fork mounted, 8.75" f3.8 Newtonian at the city reference library.
I was misquoted by a young reporter who suggested I could make mirrors in mere hours. I wish! :D


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Re: My first solar scope (150 F/8 unaluminized reflector)

Post by DeepSolar64 »

Rusted, WoW, I bet that 5" refractor was a joy to use but heavy to set up. Back in those days 12" was a big scope. Few went beyond 16 inches.

How many here started out with a small refractor, particularly a small department store refractor? I received a Focal ( a K-Mart brand ) 50mm F11.6 refractor for Christmas back in 1978. It had one cheap 12.5mm eyepiece which gave about 50x. I would use my brother's 10x50 Traq binoculars to find things, especially DSOs and switch to the scope for a closer look. It was the Focal 50mm that got me started into astronomy. It gave me my first views of Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, Venus, Sunspots and of course the Moon. In 1982 I bought a Traq 60mm which had much better optics. It turned out to be a really good performer with it's only real shortcoming being it's .0965 focuser. I still have it today and it is occasionally used for white light solar with Baader film. It originally came with a small eyepiece mounted solar filter.

http://skytour.homestead.com/files/sod.html

I also notice so many of us are seniors. Older astronomers who remember a past age. Before mass produced Chinese telescopes. Back when most were made in Japan and the USA. And yes, many more of us made our own!

I also think of the autobiography of the late Leslie Peltier. Starlight Nights. https://archive.org/details/StarlightNights/mode/2up An ode to simpler times, darker skies and bygone days.


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Re: My first solar scope (150 F/8 unaluminized reflector)

Post by EGRAY_OBSERVATORY »

The history continues and so interesting.

Terry


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Re: My first solar scope (150 F/8 unaluminized reflector)

Post by DeepSolar64 »

I would love to hear the history of others here on how they began their hobby of astronomy, photography and what equipment they started out with. Pedro started an excellent thread here!! 🔭

It doesn’t matter if it is a newbie or an old timer. Let’s hear it!!


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Losmandy AZ8 Alt/Az Mount
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Re: My first solar scope (150 F/8 unaluminized reflector)

Post by Rusted »

My first telescope was a 30x30 all brass drawtube thing for Christmas at ~12.
It would not show the Moon, nor much else sharply, at 30x!
So I removed the erecting lens and used it at low power, upside down on the moon.
I mounted it on a Meccano stand with wormwheel slow motions.
So I could look up though my attic bedroom skylight. :D

My first "real" ATM at 13-14 was a 60mm 0.5 diopter spectacle lens in an aerial telescope hung from the washing line post.
I chose a 1/2" 12mm simple eyepiece with RAS thread and glimpsed a colourful and very wobbly Saturn at foolishly high power! :mrgreen:

Seeing through a pair of Ex-gov. 8x40 binoculars for a few seconds, in my mid teens, was a real eye opener!
Then I had a school chum who had a nice but largely unused, 6" f/8 on a cast iron altaz. I was only allowed to see the Moon once! :shock:

It took me more than two decades to get my first decent binos.
Now they have charity/thrift shops where you can buy them for small change.

I've spent most of my life making optics, telescopes and mountings.
Mostly due to abject poverty from having far too many other hobbies. :lol:


http://fullerscopes.blogspot.dk/

H-alpha: Baader 160mm D-ERF, iStar 150/10 H-alpha objective, 2" Baader 35nm H-a, 2" Beloptik KG3,
Lunt 60MT etalon, Lunt B1200S2 BF, Assorted T-S GPCs or 2x "Shorty" Barlow, ZWO ASI174.
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Re: My first solar scope (150 F/8 unaluminized reflector)

Post by DeepSolar64 »

Many of us have humble beginnings I think.


Lunt 8x32 SUNoculars
Orion 70mm Solar Telescope
Celestron AstroMaster Alt/Az Mount
Meade Coronado SolarMax II 60 DS
Meade Coronado SolarMax II 90 DS
Meade Coronado AZS Alt/Az Mount
Astro-Tech AT72EDII with Altair solar wedge
Celestron NexStar 102GT with Altair solar wedge
Losmandy AZ8 Alt/Az Mount
Sky-Watcher AZGTI Alt-Az GoTo mount
Cameras: ZWO ASI178MM, PGR Grasshopper, PGR Flea
Lunt, Coronado, TeleVue, Orion and Meade eyepieces

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