Celestron Premium 80 - Sun WL - October 05, 2022

[Sumpy]

As I'm on a bit of a vintage refractor kick at the moment, last week I snagged a late 80's / early 90's Celestron "Premium 80" (C80) on the factory AZ-3 mount with teakwood legs. The mount, while in good shape is probably going into storage, as the altitude tension is not well thought out IMO, and I have better options. The teakwood legs are a perfect match for my Vixen Porta, so they'll probably end up being migrated over at some point.

The telescope itself is in great shape, albeit with some normal wear marks. The lens was very dirty, and while I typically avoid cleaning objectives unnecessarily, I just wasn't going to be able to skip it with this one. No idea how it got there, but I could tell that much of what I was seeing was actually between the doublet lenses. After some reading, I tore into the cell, marked the glass for orientation, and to my relief everything cleaned up and went back together beautifully. From what I can tell, it appears these telescopes were made in Japan by Vixen for Celestron, and they ran alongside Celestron's 'FirstScope' series which looked almost identical, but were made in China and maybe lacked some of the multi-coating(s) on the lens? I think the mounts offered might have been different as well?

I've had it out under the stars several times, and have been super impressed with it so far. I can barely see any CA at all, and I have to really be looking for it to even notice it on the moon and planets. DSO's are brighter compared to my SV70T, and it presents that nice black background of a long focal length refractor. It is sharp as a tack, and focusing is just an absolute pleasure at this focal length. It is amazing to me that one can pick up something of this quality level for $150!

Today I was able to get it out under the sun for the first time. I'm still using film filters for now, but this is the Baader film rather than the Thousand Oaks I had previously. It does seem better, both visually and when imaging. Oh, and I lucked up and found an in-stock Lunt Hershel wedge at FLO today, but it won't be here until next week.

Sun-ZWO178-C80-Mosaic-WL-Reduced-October-05-2022.jpg (1.89 MiB) Viewed 425 times

Sun-ZWO178-C80-Crop-WL-October-05-2022.jpg (340.59 KiB) Viewed 425 times

IMG_0596 Copy.JPG (728.09 KiB) Viewed 425 times

IMG_0599 Copy.JPG (249.96 KiB) Viewed 425 times

IMG_0616 Copy.JPG (152.49 KiB) Viewed 425 times

IMG_0651 Copy.JPG (699.45 KiB) Viewed 425 times

[MAURITS]

Lovely images and beautiful setup Brian.

[torsinadoc]

I like it. I considered buying a similar scope for Cak imaging

[ffellah]

Fabulous results Brian. Well done

Franco

[rigel123]

Great results Brian!

[DeepSolar64]

That’s a beautiful refractor, Brian. It’s Japanese and Vixen so I would certainly expect it to perform very well. I love the wooden tripod. Something that once was standard on refractors but now demands a premium price to obtain.

Very nice images too!!

James

[marktownley]

A great result from a lovely scope Brian!

[DeepSolar64]

Back in the late 80's or early nineties Celestron had an apochromatic CF102 that had a fluorite element in place of one of the usual elements that would have made it an achromat. It's color correction was said to be excellent, in fact said to be comparable with the Takahashi FS series of APO doublets. It was Japanese made.

I would LOVE to have one of those!!

James

[Carbon60]

You should speak with Pedro. He shares your interest in vintage scopes and houses a veritable museum's worth of beautiful instruments.

Nice images BTW.

Stu.

[Sumpy]

Thanks so much for the kind words, everyone! The focal length required a mosaic on the full disk, and I'm still working out the process on those. Much more involved than the simple full disks from the SV70T. I do think I finally got some granulation this time around, though! Not well defined, but more than I've been able to see it up to now.

I like it. I considered buying a similar scope for Cak imaging

Indeed, this was in the back of my mind as well when I ran across the ad. I don't have a CaK module yet, but will at some point.

Back in the late 80's or early nineties Celestron had an apochromatic CF102 that had a fluorite element in place of one of the usual elements that would have made it an achromat. It's color correction was said to be excellent, in fact said to be comparable with the Takahashi FS series of APO doublets. It was Japanese made. I would LOVE to have one of those!!

I've read up on those a bit, and would love to have one too! They seem about as rare as hen's teeth however - I've yet to see one come up for sale. Seems like I remember reading there were Orion and Vixen branded versions of these fluorite based OTA's as well.

You should speak with Pedro. He shares your interest in vintage scopes and houses a veritable museum's worth of beautiful instruments.

Indeed - I always enjoy following along with Pedro's posts to see what cool equipment he is using!

[DeepSolar64]

A friend of mine said he saw a CF102 come up for sale on Astromart or Cloudy Nights. I can’t remember which. He said it was purchaced almost immediately. This wasn’t long ago.

[arnedanielsen]

Beautiful scope and images!

Best regards,
Arne