Well, the LONG drive was worth it. Nestled deep in the alpine forest of MT was sitting unused and completely preserved this SP-90F. Complete with MD-3 drives, manuals, and all accessories ever offered to the SP between 1985-88. This is the most beautiful black-tubed Celestron refractor I have ever come across. The previous owner must have used a felt bio suit when handling it.
All that needed to be done is a slight adjustment of the focuser tensioner and some new gear oil.
When the snow season hits in November, I'm shipping it off to Tex Naut for a full cleaning and report.
Jupiter was astoundingly clear. I did all I could to get false color out of this 90mm and couldn't even with a fully-coated Tani Kellner; attesting to the sheer quality of the Optron fluorite element as well as the perfect collimation. With a 7mm RG ortho, the zonal belts showed their classic cream and Himalayan-salt hues; exactly what I was looking for in this aperture. Interesting that the 1985 Special Coatings C90 was creeping-up on the fluorite at steady pace till after I hit around 88x. It was then becoming evident at a geometric rate that somebody had a central obstruction (oh dear!).
The SP mount is ever bit as smooth as my NJP and far easier to handle than the SP-DX in the other room. Usually I wind-up with a nice SP mount, but that it needs 4-7 new parts (Don Rothman is my hero in these situations), and usually the legs need to be re-stained and re-trained due to moisture over the years; not this SP. It acts like I just bought it from Orion yesterday!
I think I'd like to entertain a 2" diagonal in the future and perhaps on of those black Celestron/Vixen SS80 refractors from the mid '90s that came with or without the LV ocular. I remember the optics in those being better than my Master Birder!
Yelp; hopefully the photo files are of proper size...Here we go!
Best all!!
All that needed to be done is a slight adjustment of the focuser tensioner and some new gear oil.
When the snow season hits in November, I'm shipping it off to Tex Naut for a full cleaning and report.
Jupiter was astoundingly clear. I did all I could to get false color out of this 90mm and couldn't even with a fully-coated Tani Kellner; attesting to the sheer quality of the Optron fluorite element as well as the perfect collimation. With a 7mm RG ortho, the zonal belts showed their classic cream and Himalayan-salt hues; exactly what I was looking for in this aperture. Interesting that the 1985 Special Coatings C90 was creeping-up on the fluorite at steady pace till after I hit around 88x. It was then becoming evident at a geometric rate that somebody had a central obstruction (oh dear!).
The SP mount is ever bit as smooth as my NJP and far easier to handle than the SP-DX in the other room. Usually I wind-up with a nice SP mount, but that it needs 4-7 new parts (Don Rothman is my hero in these situations), and usually the legs need to be re-stained and re-trained due to moisture over the years; not this SP. It acts like I just bought it from Orion yesterday!
I think I'd like to entertain a 2" diagonal in the future and perhaps on of those black Celestron/Vixen SS80 refractors from the mid '90s that came with or without the LV ocular. I remember the optics in those being better than my Master Birder!
Yelp; hopefully the photo files are of proper size...Here we go!
Best all!!
Attached Image:
Just a few thoughts:
8) FS-152SV sitting in the office
Japanes super lucky zen observatory garden:S Meade ETX-90 finder scope position
Hino Optical Mizar 120SL observatory model:C SR-4mm eyepiece with a 3x barlow in a 60mm refractor
8O Zeiss Victory 7x42 SFs
Having over 135 vintage oculars to play with
My life surrounded by wonderful friends and impeccable optics
