6" f/12 for sale

The seller's claims of besting a variety of high-end instruments, including some more recent AP offerings made a fun read. It also made me think about TMB's 'AP brief history' article and his description of the launch of Astro-Physics as a full time endeavor for our hero.

"The August 1986 issue of Sky and Telescope might have been the most impressive ad for its time. Seven apochromatic refractors were listed, and the most impressive was the 6" f/12 Super Planetary for $1540. The ad read: "Our new long focus refractors are designed for the most discriminating Lunar/Planetary observer who does not want any compromise in performance... The Lunar limb and the disks of the planets are sharply outlined against black sky, resembling charcoal drawings."
- from http://www.tmboptical.com/itemsGrid.asp?cat_id=28

"I had my 6"f/12 setup next to the new 6.1" f/9 EDT, and at first glance cast on Saturn, I knew it was all over."

That is what T. Back said when he looked through the 155 F/9 EDT, possibly the finest planetary scope from AP.

Vahe

George Kiger said:

The seller's claims of besting a variety of high-end instruments, including some more recent AP offerings made a fun read.

My club has had one of these F/12’s since the late 1980’s and I’ve spent hundreds of hours observing with it, both at our observatory and the 3 times we took it to Stellafane. (I hope to use it tonight!!) I’ve also used it for solar h-alpha and lunar imaging. It is a wonderful scope. I’ve used it side-by-side with various Taks, late 90’s era A-P’s, a C-14, and two Obsession 20’s, at both our observatory and at Stellafane. On those occasions as many as 200 people had a chance to compare the scopes, many at Stellafane being advanced ATMs. The F/12 holds up quite well vs the competition. On one night of very fine seeing most people believed that the Obsession 20’s were showing better views of Mars. On star clusters in particular the view thru this refractor is spectacular. After 20 years of hard use the focuser has mostly destroyed its bearings, gears, etc and will have to be replaced. I would assume that the scope for sale has seen a lot less use and will not need a new focuser.

George N

Having owned a few of these great vintage AP scopes all I can say is that if you have not viewed through one then you should not judge. I have enjoyed this forum for a long time and this is the first time I have been dissapointed by the statements made.

What price did this scope go for?

George N