Posted by Mark K. Srein (12.220.210.25) on April 15, 2003 at 17:22:07:
In Reply to: old cave posted by Steve Tice on April 07, 2003 at 20:39:24:
: I inherited Astrola 10" Cassegrain telescope recently. This instrument has a 168" focal length. It's a 10" Dall-Kirkham F/4.1 primary mirror & a convex secondary of 4.05 amplification--combined effective focal length of F/16.5. (I read that on the old paper work). It's probably around 1950 or so. Question: Is it worth restoring, or should I use it for a boat anchor? I was able to see the rings on Saturn, but the miror looks scratched. Recoating the mirrors,really is not expensive,and if you have fooled around with 'scopes much ,it really isn't that difficult to work on,and lets be real,if this 'scope was made between say ,'60 to '76,the optical performence will be about as good as it gets(these are the same people that made questar optics for many years!)Cave made VERY few cass. designs until the very late 50's,early 60's. I've looked thru a lot of telescopes in the 40 years of observing ,and a GOOD cave is as good as it gets in my opinion,for visual work. If dit. imaging,or astrophotos are in your future,the meade would be much easier to deal with,but visual performance-fix up that cave!
: The motors look like they're shot, but it's all there. All 200lbs. Or more.
: Thanks Steve