Things You Never Knew Existed!

We Interrupt your regularly scheduled telescope restoration projects, tips and tricks — To bring you some important bulletins:

Some singularly odd, And formerly unimaginable events may be taking place here, in the near future. What I'm referring to is the bending of the fabric of reality — Or what might more accurately be described as a visit to another dimension.

A dimension not of sight and sound, but of mind... 

It's very difficult for the layperson to believe that acts of extraordinary kindness, and generosity still occur in the world. Especially in today's day and age — the year 2022.

Today the average person is in fact jaded. In my case, I should be even more jaded than most people are. In my 20 years of working in New York City, I've been exposed to more than my share of malice, threats, and violence. Yet through it all, I still maintained my faith in the goodness of humanity. Or, more accurately, to still know that good people (although certainly rare) still exist. 

Again, what started as an ordinary Want Ad, on The Cloudy Nights website (classified section) - Seemed to have opened a portal; to a simpler time - Something reminiscent of the town of Willoughby... I guess it would help if you've seen that particular episode <clicking that link will take you to a ~2 Min. YouTube video (giving you a peek at the Twilight Zone episode I'm referring to).

Perhaps in a town like Willoughby, an experienced, and avid collector of telescopes would be happy to part with examples from his collection - for a relatively small amount of money? Perhaps.

Perhaps an amateur astronomer back in those days, would think nothing of traveling many, many miles to deliver the telescope(s) to the buyer? I guess I can't say for sure, but my guess would be in the affirmative. Well this amateur astronomer (Scott), knowing my unique situation, offered to do that very thing: He'll be taking a road trip, to deliver the scopes. And I am simply floored by this act of kindness.

Each of these telescopes (listed below) are of substantial size and weight. And would be very labor-intensive to pack properly for shipping. As well as having prohibitively expensive shipping costs (mainly due to the heavy weights involved). The shipping costs for each, would be close to the actual cost/value of the scope itself...

Well, let's get straight to the telescopes!

Edmund Scientific telescopes:

A 4.25" f/10 Deluxe Space Conqueror - With clock drive

A 6" f/8 Super Space Conqueror - With clock drive

A 6" f/6 3001 model fork mount - With clock drive 

And... A 6" f/6 Cave Student Model - This telescope is all original! Which is pretty amazing! It was obviously well-kept, no restoration was necessary.

Again, one of the fascinating factors about this acquisition, is that the seller's asking price is very, very reasonable. In other words: very generous - And I appreciate it.

So essentially, it's a vintage telescope collector's starter kit! I'm really looking forward to it.

Scott sent me pictures of this wonderful, restored reflector; along with the fascinating story and details behind it. 

A 6" f/6 Cave Reflector / Student Model A

(soon to be mine if all goes well)

The beauty pictured above started it's life in California, probably around the early 1970's - And has gone through a lot since then...

Not the least of which, was a completely rebuilt mount. Scott had no choice but to purchase each component of the mount separately - and build it piece-by-piece.

Amazing stuff! 

Cave finder scope, helical focuser...

I look forward to posting much more about this upcoming unique opportunity. Along with more wonderful pics...

The mount.

All good stuff!! The only "challenge" I face now, is the waiting!!

As a side note: when it comes to most circumstances, I am far more patient than most! I'm very good at delaying gratification as well.

But waiting for the (as-yet-unkown) day when the scopes will arrive...

Oh my goodness!! What makes it more difficult, is not having a decent instrument for observing :(  

That is the factor which makes it harder to behave like a mature adult!

So what I need to do, is keep myself busy by working on my other blog.

I don't currently have any photos of the Edmund Scientific telescopes. I was thinking, that I could post pics here which are easily found on the Web - but they are of other people's scopes. I guess I could just wait a bit longer, and post up pics of the actual scopes, when they get here! 

I look forward to posting much more about this upcoming unique opportunity. With pictures of the actual Edmund telescopes. Along with more pics of The Cave scope.

Until next post - I wish you clear and steady skies!

Review: The ED Apo 16x70 Binoculars From APM

As mentioned in a previous post, I ended up selling my new Apertura 10" Dobsonian telescope - So that I could get myself either a binocular telescope, or perhaps an Alpha type pair of Binocs.

After constantly checking AM and CN, and not finding anything good...
I took a chance, and reached-out to an Astromart Member, who I recalled had sold some excellent binoculars in the past.

To make a long story short, I ended up buying a (very gently used) pair of APM 16x70's apochromatic bincos, featuring ED glass. When they arrived, they were basically in as-new condition. I cannot tell you how happy I was! Having been a die hard fan of binocular observing, this was like a dream-come-true for me.

Since, having owned the (legendary) Fujinon 16x70's - the original ones (which are more desirable than the current production models). One night, in my (then) Bortle 8, light polluted backyard (in Bronx NY)... I screwed-in the pair of Fujinon-manufactured, nebular (sic) filters into the threaded EP ends...and pointed those tripod-mounted Fujinons at M42. The view I had literally took my breath away. I immediately became a firm believer in binocular astronomy. 

And it didn't take too long after that, to slowly seek-out and acquire the wonderful books on the subject...By the legendary pillars of the binocular astronomy world:

Phil Harrington

Gary Seronik      

Stephan James O'Meara

And several others...

Well, getting back to the 16x70 Apo ED glass binoculars from APM - They were amazing. I only got to use them a couple of times. And although their optical quality/performance was wonderful - I had become far too interested in planetary nebulae. And I knew that the only way to truly enjoy observing them, was with a (decent sized) telescope.  

And since I was on a limited budget (which is typically the case) the only way to get a good-sized refractor (4"?) or reflector, was to sell the APM Binocs.

And that's what I decided to do...

Now, I could easily write a bunch more about the particular details of the subsequent selling & buying which took place - I'm going to perhaps save it for another post. Primarily because I'm excited to work on my next post...

It will be all about a wonderful opportunity I had, to acquire not one...but FOUR beautiful telescopes! From an extremely knowledgeable, fellow amateur astronomer on Cloudy Nights. This gentleman has enough experience with astronomy (and all it entails) that he is closer to the skill level & knowledge of a Professional Astronomer. 

Well, there is a lot more to the story - Not the least of which, is the subject of the 4 telescopes which I'll be acquiring from him (sometime between now and February). In a nutshell: I'm extremely excited to share all the news - and the details about the 4 wonderful, vintage scopes!

For now, I'll point out that these will consist of:

One 4.25" reflector and three 6" reflectors...Each of these telescopes are simply wonderful (and fairly rare). One of the 6" reflectors is a real stand out. I plan to refer to it as my observatory 😄

Some experienced amateurs may recognize what this beauty is?

All will be revealed in my next post 

One last link about binoculars:

Here's a very useful link about repairing binoculars at home, using simple tools and materials. It deals with the testing, repair, and adjustment of binoculars. Older/vintage binoculars tend to be a lot easier to fully disassemble and repair.

Until the next post - Wishing you clear & steady skies!

Sears-branded, 60mm Refractor Telescope - Model #6333-a

My recently acquired, and almost completely restored 60mm refractor telescope — made in Japan. It is a Sears # 4 -6333-a achromatic refractor, from about the late 1960's (or early 1970's).

Here are a few quick videos, to serve as a brief look at the current status of this Sears 60mm refractor:

When it arrived (well packaged) it was in very nice condition. So there's only been some very minor (and super easy) restoration steps taken:

The small chrome levers, for locking the RA and Dec movement of the scope, had a tendency to be in a constant state of being slightly unscrewed / un-tightened. It was very annoying! You can see both levers in the center of the  video frame above.

Well, applying just a tiny amount of Loctite Blue to the screw threads of those small shafts solved the issue.

The black handled screwdriver, seen in this video frame - is actually designed specifically for Japanese screws. They may have laughed at me, when I left the hobby shop with a couple of these screwdrivers all those years ago...But, who's laughing now?

Upon disassembly of the star diagonal (to find the cause of the minor rattling sound) - I suppose I was fully expecting to see a mirror. In my experience, that is what was always found residing in a star diagonal.

Not so with this one; it uses a glass prism instead. 

There will be much more to follow, in the upcoming posts. I will be covering the minor steps I'm taking, to make this vintage refractor look, and perform as well as it can. Stay tuned.

In even more exciting news: Not one, but three wonderful, vintage telescopes are being delivered by new friend Scott sometime soon...just waiting for the weather to cooperate. 

As mentioned briefly in the previous post, these 3 telescopes: a 4.25", and two 6" reflectors (different F/ ratios) were manufactured by Edmund Scientific. Probably in the mid-seventies to early eighties (prob ~1981 for the red tube).

All the wonderful details about these 3 optical instruments will be revealed here on the blog, in due time :) Along with "before" and "after" Pics and (YouTube) videos. It's going to be a lot of fun!!

The short version of the headline is: Yes, there still are thoughtful, decent, and generous people in the world. 

Stay tuned! - It appears that I will become a vintage telescope collector overnight! 

It's going to be amazing! If all goes according to plan - This blog will have the unique distinction, of being a depository of information and photos on Edmund Scientific telescopes. Along with detailed pictures, and restoration steps, etc.

Until next time - Clear & steady skies to you!

Out With Astrophotography - In With Video Astronomy?

As stated in my previous post: I just have had it with AP.

The Star Adventurer Pro mount has been sold (on eBay) and is en route to it's new owner, in warmer climes. With Winter fully upon us now, equipment functioning properly in seriously cold temperatures is a concern. Not only electronics for Astrophotography, but even professional equipment for wildlife sound recording - I will be covering these topics, both here, and on my bat detector reviews blog soon...

I'll also be covering how intrigued I've been by a couple of the latest 'Actual Astronomy Podcasts ' recently, and what they had to say about cold weather observing. They discussed one instance, when temps were so low (-30° C) that cameras couldn't be counted on to function! And they had to resort to sketching - just wow!

And finally, I want to touch on a subject matter which is close to my heart. Without going into too many details:

I was fortunate enough to have a Want Ad responded to, by an extraordinary gentleman. A former Research Scientist, current Educator, and collector of vintage astronomy equipment. He collects the good stuff! 

Such as telescopes by: Cave Astrola, Edmund Scientific, Unitron, Questar, Optical Craftsman, etc.

His name is Scott, and he's a super nice guy, who generously offered to go to great lengths to get not one, but three lovely vintage telescopes to me (here in upstate New York). I always thought stuff like this only happens to other people - LoL! I recently read about a fellow (on one of the Facebook groups) being gifted a complete, beautiful, Unitron refractor! 

However, the undertaking is not only comprised of a great distance to travel - but some weather forecasts promised to add snow to mix, on the proposed travel dates... 😢

So, I was beginning to lose hope of getting them anytime soon...As of Jan. 14th, that has changed :) This real, amazing human being will be making the trip...

As some of you may recall, I happen to be disabled. I have 8 damaged discs in my spine (which are inoperable), and Fibromyalgia. So I deal with chronic pain, and don't drive. This Scholar-Gentleman agreed to drive 6.5+ hours, to deliver the 3 telescopes to me! For just the cost of gasoline. Yes, people like this still exist among us. And it's very fortunate for me.

I've just now been reminded of a line from a H.S. textbook (Asian history): "...Confucius would accept a student, even if all he had to offer was a bundle of dried meat."

One of the topics I'd like to cover in future posts here on the blog, is the challenges, methods and optical instruments used for super-cold weather astronomy.

If you have a favorite optical instrument, which you use for (relatively short) astronomy observing sessions (in Winter) - I'd love to hear about it! Please mention in the comments section below.

Until next post, clear and steady skies!