Fix up girlfriend's scope or start anew?

It's been years since I've had access to a telescope. Used to have an 8" Dob but I sold it when I moved to the city. I rarely used it anyway because it was so heavy.

My girlfriend is going to get me back into astronomy, though. She found a 4.5" reflector that her dad never uses and brought it out to her place. I figured it was already tons better than your typical 60mm refractor. Unfortunately when I saw it, I learned a few things:

- It has a 2" wide focuser but it has been stopped down to .965", meaning I'd have to get an adapter just to use normal eyepieces.
- The included eyepieces are horrible little plastic things. The 25mm one might be barely usable but the 12.5mm and especially the 4mm are probably worthless.
- It has an EQ mount and motor drives. I've never liked setting up or using EQ mounts, and I am of the opinion that for casual observing, alt-az is the best. I don't even want to think about setting up and using the motor drives or the alleged go-to system for fear of bringing on a headache.

What I'm wondering is whether I should spend any money trying to bring her telescope up to speed or if I should just toss the whole thing out and start with something higher quality. I am not totally up to speed on all the latest gear, having been out of the hobby for a good 6-7 years. I did notice that Orion sells a 6" short-tube Dob for about $300, which seems about right for me. The only other thing that seems like it might work would be one of those 80mm short refractors, but they cost way more per aperture so it might not be a great idea.

Perhaps the biggest problem with trying to fix up her old scope is the mount. I just don't like EQ mounts at all, but replacing it with a suitable alt-az mount would probably cost more than the scope is worth. Then there's the cost of an adapter for the focuser and 1-2 good eyepieces, which would probably end up being the same as just buying something new anyway.

To sum up, is her telescope worth saving? If not, what are some good alternatives? For me, portability is really important. I don't want to avoid going out on a clear night because my scope is too bulky. That's what happened with my last one and it's why I'm considering smaller scopes this time around.

As for the tube:
It depends on how the focuser was "stopped down." If it is just adapters, then take them out. But I suspect it was more than that. I think if you went over to the classifieds here you could find a 2 inch replacement focuser pretty easily.--Although a 1.25 would be sufficient--figure that the secondary would not really fill a 2 incher.

As for the mount:
It depends on whether it is stable enough as it is. If you are generally happy with it, then use it, even if it is EQ instead of Alt-Az. If not, you could make a Dob base for it pretty easily probably.

As for eyepeices. Agree, you probably want to invest in some good quality Plossl's at least--probably $20 each.

Alex

I can't know the specifics of your relationship with your g/f, but if you decide to toss the scope she brought over for you...then do it as delicately as possible... 8)
Know what I'm sayin'?
OTOH, something like a TV-76 or TV-85 on a Telepod or even a Dob should make you happy and her too if she is the least bit interested in the hobby. It really doesn't sound like a good plan to improve the shortcomings of that other scope.
Best of luck!

You don't want to use a 2" focuser with a 4.5" Newtonian. The Newt is just good enough to provide passable field illumination for a 1.25" eyepiece. It can't pump enough light into a 2" eyepiece. If you make the secondary bigger to do that you don't gain much as it turns out. (I played with the secondary sizing program on the S&T web site, SEC)

Good luck with the scope, but for 2" eyepieces you'll want to go up to 8" OTA.

Greg N

To sum up, is her telescope worth saving? If not, what are some good alternatives? For me, portability is really important. I don't want to avoid going out on a clear night because my scope is too bulky. That's what happened with my last one and it's why I'm considering smaller scopes this time around.

Luca:

A few thoughts/comments/experiences:

Without a photo, I can only guess exactly what you have. However it seems very much to me that what you have is very likely an older Meade 4.5 inch F/8 Newtonian similar to the 4400-4500 series. These typically came on a rather solid EQ mount similar in size to an EQ-2 but with fully geared on both the RA axis and the Declincation axis. They also generally used a not so bad 2 inch plastic focuser with only a 0.965 inch adapter. As far as I can recall, these Meades were the only ones that had a full 2 inch focuser with the adapter.

- Over the years I have had 3 or 4 of these scopes, generally they are reasonable scopes when used with reasonable eyepieces. As others have pointed out, optically they will be the equivalent of the Orion XT-4.5. In my experience these scopes provide pretty decent views even at higher magnifications, split the double-double, split Izar show the rings of Saturn, the moons of Jupiter and the cloud bands and maybe even a shadow transit on a good night...

The problems you face in making this scope work are two fold:

You prefer an alt-az mount. As has been previously mentioned, these small EQ mounts can be easily converted for use as a ALT=AZ mount, most often without modification. Simply points the polar axis to the zenith rather than at the north pole and magically it is now an ALT-AZ mount, the RA axis is now the Azimuth axis, the Declination axis is not the Altitude axis. And the bonus is that it has nice slo-motion controls for centering and tracking at higher powers. The photo is an 4 inch refractor mounted on a Meade 4500 eq mount setup in the Alt-az mode.





You need an adapter for your focuser so you can use 1.25 inch eyepieces... In the past, Meade used to supply these to people who requested them, I don't know if that is the case today but in any event, with such an adapter, the scope should be quite usable. In a pinch, you can jury rig a 2 inch to 1.25 inch adapter to work with your scope.

So my thinking goes like this... The scope is competent, certainly there a better scopes but a bird in the hand is better than two in the bush... Use what you got and have fun with it. If you find you are enjoying this scope, that is the time to spend the money and time to upgrade.

Jon Isaacs

Attached Image:

If the 4.5" is not of good quality, I'd advise to quickly
"upgrade" to a 6" or 8" Dob from Orion. I've been down the
road before trying to fix-up up an especially bad 4.5" --
by the time I replaced everything on it, I'd spent more than
the price of a new Orion XT6 -- which I eventually bought anyway.
I've also seen nice 4.5" Newts by Vixen -- it is possible --
but if there are problems, I'd avoid the fix-up path. Its not
worth the trouble on these.

This question has very little to do with astronomy. If you treat it as a purely technical question, you are doomed. Turneth now to page 834 of the Dude Handbook:

Rule #926: Thou shalt not belittle a gift from a girlfriend or girlfriend's father (i.e. your prospective father-in-law).
Rule #927: Don't chuck a gift telescope in the dumpster.
Rule #928: Do not stifle a girlfriend's interest in your hobby.

I think you want to store the EQ mount and go forward with the Dob mount. The Dob mount will make it easier for both you and your girlfriend to use the scope. If you convert the scope to a Dob, you could end up with something very nice and very useful for casual observing. And...5 years from now somebody will probably give you a Televue scope as a gift.

So I'm sort of getting to the point where I want to get my own. I'm just not sold on the idea of refurbishing her old 4.5" Newt. Seems like a waste of money I could be spending on better stuff.

So far I've been looking at 6" reflectors, 4" refractors, and 5" cats. I'd love something bigger but my last scope (an Orion XT8) I rarely used because it was too big and heavy and I never wanted to haul it out. Thus, I like the idea of compact, short-tube scopes. Orion has the compact StarBlast 6, but it's too low to be comfortable to use without a table. Skywatcher sells a short-tube 6" reflector on an alt-az mount, which seems perfect for me, but I'm a little concerned the mount won't be up to the job. 4" refractors are kind of expensive and are very long. There are those 80mm short refractors but that's getting really small. 5" cats seem to be fairly common in the classifieds so I'd just have to get a suitable mount for one (and again, I'd want an alt-az mount). Lastly, there are lots of really cheap 6" dobs around but I'm concerned they'll be just as bulky and inconvenient as my old 8", and if I'm going to live with that, why not just get an 8" instead?

I would be driving to my observing location most of the time. Otherwise, I live in a city, so my only possible targets would be the moon and planets.