For fans of Classic Refractors

superiorstream · Post by **superiorstream** » Mon May 17, 2010 6:38 am

Hi,Stuart
These are scopes of yesteryears and brought back good memories.Personally I have a few of such 60 mm scopes of various focal length from Vixen etc.Their optics are good-although achromatic, can still serve a useful purpose of observing the sun if you use say use the solarmax 40mm filter.Produce sharp images.

superiorstream · Post by **superiorstream** » Mon May 17, 2010 11:16 am

Hi,All
Yes,those old 60mm are v.good;but do look out for imitation and these in general uses plastic parts-eg focuser etc that shrink ,change shape, and even crack with time.If the scope has ALL metal parts;its a first sign of genuinity and quality.Some even come with out of production tube rings.My 2 cents.

orly_andico · Post by **orly_andico** » Mon May 17, 2010 1:04 pm

how does a small long refractor like an f/13 compare with a modern ED or APO refractor of similar size?

orly_andico · Post by **orly_andico** » Mon May 17, 2010 3:16 pm

@Stuart, that Pentax is no good! Jupiter shows too many bands!

superiorstream · Post by **superiorstream** » Mon May 17, 2010 8:16 pm

Hi,
Agree with Stuart.You know,now younsters are spoiled by choices.Before 1972,our -meaning armteur astronomer then in singaporehad only 60mm refractor and a 80mm cost a fortune.As most of the EP used then was the 0.965 type Stuart photo was about the best view such scope can give.It didnt collect enough light and at that time 7x50 are among the best bino available for looking at clusters.Its the Halley comet craz that make telescope expand in diameter with 6 ins as commonplace item now.Back then,there were no solar filter available and I dare not look at the sun thr such telescope then.Thus such scope are no match for today refractor and personally I am keeping it for sentamental value.Looking at it brings back old memories.