philjay Posted April 20, 2015 Share Posted April 20, 2015 Please post any images of you and your early scopes here so we can all have a laugh I shall start the ball rolling with this one that I've been threatening you with for some time and at last I managed to find some more pics of my 1st "real" telescope. I say real because I did have a 3" Tasco 10TE refractor prior to this but this was my first embarkation into the realms of larger aperture. Its a 6" Dall Kirkham Cassegrain at F20 with Richfield Newtonian attachment. Mirrors were D Hinds senior, scope OTA and furniture were Fullerscopes and tripod and mount were by that famous tripod manufacturer.... Philjay . Guess the decade, the prize ..... a smack in the eye +TasKiNG 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Posted April 20, 2015 Share Posted April 20, 2015 You have not aged a day Phil I would say about 1987. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philjay Posted April 20, 2015 Author Share Posted April 20, 2015 (edited) Congratulations 1 smack in the face won by Mick :facepalm2:Actually its slightly earlier but you got the decade Edited April 20, 2015 by philjay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tweedledee Posted April 20, 2015 Share Posted April 20, 2015 Love the idea of a dual focus scope. They did used to be more popular, but you rarely see them now. Very nice setup. I thought flares were long gone by 1987 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allan the Plumber Posted April 20, 2015 Share Posted April 20, 2015 with those flared Jeans I would of said 1970's Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philjay Posted April 20, 2015 Author Share Posted April 20, 2015 (edited) Flares and moustache were the every day fashion in the mid 80s I shall have you know. At least I had changed out of my tanktop for the pic :-) The dual fl was great Pete. An f2 richfield 6" newt was gob smacking, however you didnt do it often because you had to swsp secondaries and recollimate Edited April 20, 2015 by philjay Allan the Plumber 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnnyaardvark Posted April 20, 2015 Share Posted April 20, 2015 (edited) Like it Phil! And with a little more hair... I had some once too! Currently on my first real scope (really!) as my 1st one was a 60/70mm Refractor from Argos. A Christmas present inspired by Halley's Comet. unfortunately I don't think there are any pictures of me with it and it probably didn't quite get the use it should have done... certainly didn't see the comet with it! I believe it's in a mates dad's attic so may even get it back sometime!! Best wishes Steve Edit: Typographic Errors... Edited April 21, 2015 by Johnnyaardvark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philjay Posted April 21, 2015 Author Share Posted April 21, 2015 Halleys comet hype was responsible for alot of scope purchases. I understand its best to avoid certain sct scopes that were churned out at the time due to the rush and poor qc Johnnyaardvark 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnnyaardvark Posted April 21, 2015 Share Posted April 21, 2015 There was certainly a lot of hype at the time. I had been introduced to Astronomy (actually I think Astronomy Now) by a friend around the same time though as well and that got me into photography... with the intent of shooting the stars... so it has been a bit of a dream to have the kit I have now and to take the images that I can. The scope I had was not too bad but yes Argos was not the best place to get something from. To be fair though it was a present and it was pretty much all my parents could really afford especially not knowing how long my interest would last. I remember my first observing session... not really knowing how to focus and assuming the [blurred] star discs were how they appeared! Coming back inside quite excited that I had seen anything. Felt a little embarrassed later when I learned how to focus and that all stars appear as points of light! But it did show me the rings of Saturn, the moons and some surface detail on Jupiter, Orion nebula and the trapezium, "fantastic" surface detail on the moon and the Pleiades that remains to this day a favourite. My father made me a brass adapter so that I could attach my far too heavy Zenith IIE on the back (attaching it to a lenses) Didn't do the focuser any good and only really managed a few pictures of the moon and some of the sun through what I now know was a rather dangerous and dodgy green filter. The best bit of the scope was probably that it had a wooden tripod but the actual mount was pretty awful in terms of play. Took quite a few wide field shots with the Zenith though... all 35mm film... including Orion, a lunar eclipse, an intentional Perseid and later Hale Bop. Taught me a lot about photography at least if nothing else. It did lead onto me studying astronomy at university... which also led onto me realising a couldn't afford it and wouldn't seen the things visually that I had hoped I would... hence the interest or intent to eventually get back into it but through astrophotography. The quality of amateur gear has improved immensely I think but more importantly it is more with our reach pricewise... at least to get us started anyway. Great to be back into it at a practical level and thanks to all [here] who have offered and offer support and help. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M. Posted July 7, 2015 Share Posted July 7, 2015 I was born in the 80s haha, a great decade Love the cardigan Phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philjay Posted July 7, 2015 Author Share Posted July 7, 2015 Errm sorry but Ive never owned a cardigan in my life, that's my thick jumper that my mum knit M. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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