Found Pic of First Scope. GREAT Memories!

This was an F8 Newtonian we built from scratch with "stone knives and bear skins" so to speak. Bought "How to Make a Telescope" by Jean Texereau, and supplies from University Optics. Built homemade Foucault tester to boot! We needed a little help in the final figuring, which we got at the Detroit Astronomical Society, which ran workshops on mirror grinding pretty often. This thing worked great, and I still have the mirror. Notice the Unitron finder on it, which I still have as well!

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Nice scope! I also remember the Detroit Astronomical Society. They used to bring scopes to the Wayne County Fair. This is how I got started in astronomy when I first looked thru some of the scopes they had set up back in the 1950's. As a kid, my first view of Saturn thru a 3" Unitron got me hooked on owning my own telescope. You couldn't pull me away from that scope for over an hour.

By the way, love those deep shag rugs in your photo - so 1950! Almost expect Donna Reed to pop up in the background.

Rolando

I recently found a picture of me and my first scope from about 45 years (and pounds) ago. It was a Sears 60mm EQ refractor that had fairly good optics and a stable mount. I saved up for weeks to get the electric drive motor. Sadly I no longer have this scope. I observed comet Bennett in 1970 with this one.

I will try to find a picture of my first home made scope...my trusty 8" f7 Newtonian.

John
CCD-Freak

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