Telescopes
Trent sizes up the 18.5" Alvin Clark at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago.
He always said that he was looking for a scope that would be suitable to use his 180 F7 as a finder scope! ;-)
Mark's number came up and he was able to purchase a new Astro-Phyics 130 EDF Gran Turismo!
Mark was suffering from aperture fever and found an 8" TEC MC200/15.5 Mak Cass to help alleviate the problem.
Mark decided to downsize and after a long hiatus from the hobby, traded his 1200 GTO for a Mach1 GTO.
Below are the mounts and scopes we historically owned and used
During the summer of 2001, Roland and Marjorie Christen, the owners of Astro-Physics, visited the observatory. After seeing how serious and enthusiastic we were about this venture, they bestowed upon us the privilege of owning two of the rarest telescopes they have ever produced. The 9.25" f4.3 and 7" f4.5 Maksutov Newtonians also known as, "Fast Max" 235 and "Fast Max" 180. Internally we refer to them as "FatMan" and "LittleBoy" ;-)
Our sincere thanks to Roland & Marj and the staff at Astro-Physics for all of the encouragement and support!
Mark quickly realized (ok maybe not so quick) that the Fast Max 235 rendered his 155 EDF "redundant". Both of these telescopes have pretty much the same focal length with the FastMax having a much faster focal ratio (f4.3 vs f7). So, with a certain amount of reluctance (and sadness) he decided it was time to let the 155 move on to a new caretaker who will use it for it's intended purpose. A telescope that sits in it's case does nobody any good.
Mark has finally acquired an Astro-Physics Traveler! It was a long time coming as these little gems are without question the most difficult 4" Apochromatic Refractors to find and purchase.
As we find the time we will be posting pictures of the Fast Max 180 and the rest of the "arsenal".
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Astro-Physics 180 EDF f7 with Astro-Physics Star12 ED 120mm f8.5 guidescope. Astro-Physics 1200 GTO Mount on permanent pier. |
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Astro-Physics 105mm f6 Traveler riding piggyback on FastMax 235. |
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The Astro-Physics Fast Max 235 9.25" f4.3 Maksutov-Newtonian with 2" Feathertouch focuser and custom made/painted brackets and mounting plates. It is mounted on his Astro-Physics 900 GTO mount on a permanent pier. Dew Shield decals will be forthcoming from Astro-Physics. |
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Astro-Physics Fast Max 235 showing the bottom of the custom mounting plate. This mounting system makes it extremely easy to put the scope onto the mount. |
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The Fast Max 235 looking up! |
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The Astro-Physics right angle 8x50 finder. A very rare item these days! |
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Both piers (~60" in height) as you walk in the front door. Note large Deep Cycle Batteries and Switches for the roof winches. |
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The Bat Pier! (Well, that's what we call it anyway! ;-) This is the most incredible portable pier we have ever seen! It dissasembles into very transportable parts and in engineered to be extremely stable. It is the only one ever manufactured. It is short to accomodate the FastMax 235 when mounted on a 900 GTO. It's the perfect height and keeps the focuser at eye level. |
The AP scopes are not for sale, ever !
Ok, maybe only when they are rendered "Redundant" by the purchase of another Astro-Physics Telescope! ;-)
