Historical 120x20 refractor

Discuss your refractor type scopes here.
Post Reply
User avatar
DeanD Australia
Orion Spur Ambassador
Articles: 0
Offline
Posts: 653
Joined: Fri May 17, 2019 7:27 am
4
Location: Adelaide South Australia
Status:
Offline

TSS Awards Badges

Historical 120x20 refractor

#1

Post by DeanD »


Hi all,

I just scored a double piece of astronomical history: a "Moonwatch" 120x20 f5 refractor. This was part of the program set up in around 1957, initiated by Harvard astronomer Fred L. Whipple, at the time the director of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Amateur groups around the world helped find and track satellites such as Sputnik; and they used all sorts of telescopes. Some select groups were given 120x20 refractors which I understand were cannibalised from WW2 ships' binoculars. This is one of them! The second piece of astronomical history it embodies is that it was used by the late Bill Bradfield, along with his home-made newtonian reflector, in his comet searching.

Bill discovered 18 comets from 1971-2004, and spent over 3,500 hours getting up before dawn and searching for them. All were visual discoveries (he held the world record for visual discoveries), and all were attributed to just Bill. Unfortunately for him, they were discovered in an era when there were no prizes offered for amateur comet discoveries: he commented to me once that if it was another era (like more recently, or in the 19th century!) he would have had enough prize money to buy a house...

Here is a link to a youtube video about Bill:

Some more information is on the Wikipedia entry here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_A._Bradfield The reflector shown in the video is currently held at the observing site of the Astronomical Society of South Australia. It is an amazing piece of "agricultural" telescope building embodying a fixed height eyepiece, and we intend to display it as a tribute to Bill.

I have managed to unscrew the objective lens and cleaned it, and it gives very good correct image daytime views with the included fixed eyepiece and prism (a 2.4°FOV): but I haven't had a clear night yet... I have now (carefully!) removed the attached prism and eyepiece and intend to try it with a better quality RA prism and eyepiece once I have worked out a way to mount it! I'll give an observing report in the not-too-distant future, and I will keep to Bill's "agricultural" approach with any temporary modifications. ;)

Below is a picture of the scope with a 30cm ruler for scale. In line with its military history it is incredibly solid: I suspect you could drive a car over it without any damage!

If anyone is interested I will take and attach some more images shortly.

- Dean
Attachments
IMG_2625.jpg
Telescopes: 12" f5 dob, Celestron CPC800, 150mmf5 Celestron achro, Tak TSA102, TV76, ETX125...
Binos: Steiner Wildlife XP 10x26, Swarovski 8x30 Habicht, Zeiss SFL 8x40, Vanguard Endeavour 10.5x45, Fuji FMTR-SX 10x50, Tak 22x60, Orion Resolux 15x70
Eyepieces: way too many (is that possible?), but I do like my TV 32mm plossl, 13mm Nagler T6, 27mm Panoptic and 3-6mm Nagler zoom, plus Fujiyama 18mm and 25mm orthos and Tak 7.5mm LE
User avatar
Lady Fraktor Slovakia
Co-Administrator
Co-Administrator
Articles: 0
Offline
Posts: 9860
Joined: Mon Apr 29, 2019 9:14 pm
4
Location: Slovakia
Status:
Offline

Re: Historical 120x20 refractor

#2

Post by Lady Fraktor »


A unique piece of equipment Dean.
Good luck with the upgrades and enjoy the historical pieces :)
See Far Sticks: Antares Elita 103/1575, AOM FLT 105/1000, Bresser BV 127/1200, Nočný stopár 152/1200, Vyrobené doma 70/700, Stellarvue NHNG DX 80/552, TAL RS100/1000, Vixen SD115s/885
EQ: TAL MT-1, Vixen SXP, AXJ, AXD
Az/Alt: AYO Digi II/ Argo Navis, Stellarvue M2C/ Argo Navis
Tripods: Berlebach Planet (2), Uni 28 Astro, Report 372, TAL factory maple, Vixen ASG-CB90, Vixen AXD-TR102
Diagonals: Astro-Physics, Baader Amici, Baader Herschel, iStar Blue, Stellarvue DX, Takahashi prism, TAL, Vixen flip mirror
Eyepieces: Antares to Zeiss
The only culture I have is from yogurt
My day was going well until... people
Image
User avatar
notFritzArgelander
In Memory
In Memory
Articles: 0
Offline
Posts: 14925
Joined: Fri May 10, 2019 4:13 pm
4
Location: Idaho US
Status:
Offline

TSS Awards Badges

Re: Historical 120x20 refractor

#3

Post by notFritzArgelander »


Nice!
Scopes: Refs: Orion ST80, SV 80EDA f7, TS 102ED f11 Newts: AWB 130mm, f5, Z12 f5; Cats: VMC110L, Intes MK66,VMC200L f9.75 EPs: KK Fujiyama Orthoscopics, 2x Vixen NPLs (40-6mm) and BCOs, Baader Mark IV zooms, TV Panoptics, Delos, Plossl 32-8mm. Mixed brand Masuyama/Astroplans Binoculars: Nikon Aculon 10x50, Celestron 15x70, Baader Maxbright. Mounts: Star Seeker IV, Vixen Porta II, Celestron CG5
Post Reply

Create an account or sign in to join the discussion

You need to be a member in order to post a reply

Create an account

Not a member? register to join our community
Members can start their own topics & subscribe to topics
It’s free and only takes a minute

Register

Sign in

Return to “Refractor type Telescopes”