TheSkySearchers

First scope was a 40mm Tasco refractor that I got for xmas in '69, then a shaky spindly legged 70mm Sears refractor. Still have a clear memory of seeing Saturn for the first time in that scope though, so maybe the 'hobby killer' moniker is a little unwarranted.

Life took me away from the hobby for a long time. When I returned my first serious scope was a Celestron SE8. It was a surprise to see how much the equipment had changed and what you could get for a reasonable amount of money.

The first decent scope was a 3" cardboard newt. I was about 9 years old. Spent hours trying to see the astronauts on the Moon
Then a Sears discovery 70mm refractor.

Then the Meade 6" Starfinder, similar to this:

Hardly what most of us would call a "real" telescope these days, but here I am around 1981-2 with my Sears 3" refractor.


Most of the time I tell folks THIS ws my first real telescope. An 8" Celestron SCT purchased in 1985 for the return of Halley's comet. I'm sure Celestron made a ton of money leading up to that disappointing flyby.
This image was taken July 1991 when I was headed to Mexico (by truck) to experience my first total Solar Eclipse. My transmission blew up while visiting a friend in Flagstaff so I ended up stranded there for a week, waiting on parts. Missed the total eclipse but watched the partial from the parking lot at the Lowell Observatory that can barely be seen in the background.

Actually a 40mm refractor with a draw tube focus. You could either hold it up to your eye like a pirate's scope or mount it on a flimsy 12" tabletop tripod. Saw the moon, that was about it. Then when I was 9 my uncle gave me his old 60mm refractor, which was an off brand but seemingly with well-made Japanese optics. Saw the rings of Saturn, Jupiter's moons, Mars, and the Orion Nebula. When I was eleven I got the Edmund Scientific 4.25" f/10 reflector with a spherical mirror, called the "Super Space Conqueror" as a Christmas gift. When I was 14 I built an 8" Dob with money earned from my paper route. The plans were in Astronomy Magazine.

My first real scope was a 10.1" Coulter Odyssey Dobsonian that I bought on sale from our local astro club. While it was a nice scope I used it rarely until I converted it for astrophotography by building an autoguided barndoor mount for it. That was a fun project that got me started in AP.

My first telescope (real being in the eye of the beholder) was a Gilbert reflector (see below image - not my scope though). Cardboard tube, plastic focuser, stationary secondary holder, metal mirror cell with collimation screws. A wobbly metal tripod held it okay since it was light weight. I adored that telescope, which my mother bought for me through the Montgomery Wards catalog - similarly to John's Sears and Roebucks experiences. At the time I didn't really know Charles Messier from my dog's butt. I saw objects marked on my planisphere and chased them. I didn't have a proper atlas. My favorite memories were summers spent observing M6 and M7 in Scorpius. I next received a pair of Tasco 7x50 binoculars which saw a lot of use as well. Its just I didn't have much reference material in a small Indiana town.
But my first "real" telescope was a Coulter Odyssey II 17.5 inch dobsonian (see image below - not my scope though). Huge and heavy, even for a strapping young man, it was a lot to move around. Why it never occurred to me to put wheel-barrow handles on it I'll never know. I guess I wasn't too dynamic of a thinker! Anyway, while that behemoth structure is long gone, the optics (refigured) live on in the truss dob you see me with in my avatar. Those mirrors have certainly reflected a lot of photons over the years.

I'm not sure what defines a "real" telescope. But most of my early observing as a teen in the 1970s was through a Tasco 60mm refractor.

While I have been interested in astronomy since I was a kid I got into the telescope game later in life so my first scope was the Orion XT8i Dob. That is such an amazing scope to start with. After a bit I finally picked up a Zhummel Z12 and that is all I've used since.

My first scope was a 60mm JC Penney 800mm focal length refractor on an alt/az mount that I bought at a swap meet. It had 3 or 4 clam chips in the objective,, and the mount did not have an eyepiece tray. I connected a small chain to the tripod legs and hung a gallon water-flled milk jug to keep it steady. It came with the wooden box and all the optical assessories. It was in rough condition but I saw a lot with that little scope.

As for first "real" scope, different people will choose a different scope! My wife bought me an early1980's Astroscan and then I bought a Sky Research 8" f/2.9 richest-field Dobson-mounted scope. It was like an 8" monocular! That was followed by a Celestron classic orange SCT. Photos below of the Sky Research original with an optical window and then rebuilt in 1991 when the optical window cracked, and the C-8 SCT and Astroscan. Unfortunately I no longer own the Astroscan and Celestron. I am in the process of re-imagining the 8" f/2.9.

A 1968 Sears 60mm alt-az refractor, the best Christmas gift I ever got. The Japanese optics weren't bad, the mount was terrible. I got it at age 10 and learned how to star hop to anything in the sky. After the mount wore out I promised myself I'd get back into the hobby someday with a nice scope and mount, and I finally did that over the past two years. Two of my four scopes are 60mm refractors.

A Fullerscope 8.75" F8 Newtonian on their Mk III GEM, with a RA clock drive.

I guess I missed posting to this when it first came out! Better late than never!!

My first scope was a Unitron Model 114, 60mm, f/15 on an alt-az mount. I bought it for $125 in 1959 after saving my paper route money for almost two years! The B&W photo was taken the day I received it. I still have and use the scope. The more recent photo shows it with my 4 inch Unitron that I purchased new in 1989 (30 years after I purchased my first Unitron) when I was stationed in Japan.

I've also included a December 1959 Unitron advertisement from Sky and Telescope magazine.

Dave

Etx 70 . Maxed out with a 4.7mm eyepiece looking at Saturn. I was hooked after that.

My dad bought the kids a Sears 60 - the Classic. I used to setup on the street facing due east,catching Jupiter as it came up over the water.

Many neighbors got their first look at Jupiter and the 4 moons. Those H series 0.965 EPs were not the greatest, but I did a lot of scanning with that bad boy.

Being a shared scope, it became horribly mis-treated over the years.I miss it!

1964 60mm Sears Jason-Empire. Used it for about 10 years, before putting together a Jaegers 3" frac. I still have the 60mm in my collection.
I swapped out the alt-az mount with an Edmunds Equatorial about 2 years after I bought it and added the finder with an illuminated reticle.

I have no images, but a Meade LXD75 10" Schmidt Newtonian was what I consider my first real telescope, optically superb but the mount was puny for such a payload.