Old Edmund Scientific Telescope
George McCouch
Hello,
I have been given an old reflector telescope that I was told had been
produced by the Edmund Scientific company sometime in the late 50s or
early 60s. The scope had been stored for years and seems to be in nice
shape. It is a reflector with what appears to be a 4+ inch mirror and
is mounted on a single pipe mount with three legs at the bottom (not a
tripod) The tube is long and bright white. There is one old eyepiece,
looks to be a 1.25 inch size and maybe 35 or 40mm across. Can anyone
give me some info on old Edmund scopes, particulary this one?
Thanks
George
Dave Jessie
Hi George,
It sure sounds like a 'Palomar Jr.' on a pedestal instead of a tripod.
It's a 4.25" f/10 spherical mirrored reflector and cost $74.95 FOB
Barrington N.J. circa 1960 (at least the tripod mounted one) and I remember
exactly! I saved up for a year and bought one then...it's still in the
basement and still gets used on occasion. The GEM (German Equatorial Mount)
leaves a bit to be desired, but it works reasonably well. Does yours have
the tiny finder scope? Removing that and replacing it with something
functional was my first modification.
Dave Jessie
George McCouch
"Dave Jessie" <DJe...@neo.rr.com> wrote:
Dave,
Thanks for the reply.
Palomar Jr. is an interesting name for a telescope.
There is a finder scope that seems to focus ok but there seems to be
pitting or decades of dust on the its lens. The mirrors seem to be in
nice shape (the tube was covered) and all I have is one old lens that
looks as it has seen a lot of use. Any idea of what the focal length
might be? It looks to be about 1000mm? A new finder scope and some new
eyepieces are in the planning stages.
George
Rod Mollise
>looks to be a 1.25 inch size and maybe 35 or 40mm across. Can anyone
>give me some info on old Edmund scopes, particulary this one?
>
This is a scope Edmund sold from the 50s into the 70s, and was usually called
the "Palomar Junior". I still have mine, it being the first serious scope of my
own that I got my hands on (1965). What's it like? The mirror is spherical, but
at the large focal ratio of this scope, f/10-11, it performs excellently. It is
capable of doing a good job on the planets and the deep sky within the bounds
of its 4 inch aperture. The mount, in typical 60s fashion is more "heavy" and
less "solid" than it should be. But I love my PJ! BTW, the earlier models had a
wooden tripod, while the mid-sixties and on examples had a metal pedestal
instead. Some years back, I used this silly old telescope to observe every
single Messier object from my city location. Fun. Frustrating sometimes, but
fun. And I was ultimately successful.
Peace,
Rod Mollise
Author of _Choosing and Using a Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope_
Like SCTs and MCTs?
Check-out sct-user, the mailing list for CAT fanciers!
Goto <http://members.aol.com/RMOLLISE/index.html>
Al M
Add me to the list of a former 'PJ' owners.
I was saving my coins for months to buy this 4 1/4" Newt. We lived in
North Philadelphia in 1962. One snowy and icy Saturday morning, I was
ready. My dad slipped and skidded the 40 miles to Barrington. When we
arrived at Edmunds Scientific, I felt like I was in heaven. We paid
for the scope and loaded it into the 59' Chevy and slipped and skidded
back home. I was concerned that we'd get into a wreck and damage the
'PJ'. It was about 2 weeks before it cleared!
Al M
rmol...@aol.com (Rod Mollise) wrote in message news:<20030124174859...@mb-ml.aol.com>...
George McCouch
misi...@hotmail.com (Al M) wrote:
> Hi,
> Add me to the list of a former 'PJ' owners.
>
> I was saving my coins for months to buy this 4 1/4" Newt. We lived in
> North Philadelphia in 1962. One snowy and icy Saturday morning, I was
> ready. My dad slipped and skidded the 40 miles to Barrington. When we
> arrived at Edmunds Scientific, I felt like I was in heaven. We paid
> for the scope and loaded it into the 59' Chevy and slipped and skidded
> back home. I was concerned that we'd get into a wreck and damage the
> 'PJ'. It was about 2 weeks before it cleared!
>
> Al M
>
Thanks for the replies and the great stories! In 1962 I also lived in
the Philadelphia area (Norristown) and at age 11 I also had a telescope,
a Gilbert 3 inch reflector with a black rolled cardboard tube and
plastic lens. I could actually see the rings of Saturn with it. I am
looking forward to using the Palomar Jr and maybe renewing the interest
I had as a kid.
Thanks,
George
Rod Mollise
>North Philadelphia in 1962. One snowy and icy Saturday morning, I was
>ready. My dad slipped and skidded the 40 miles to Barrington. When we
Hi Al:
Well, what a great story! Actually got it at the store! Amazin'!
As for me, it seems hard to believe by today's perspective, but there was
absolutely no way my family could afford $79.95 for a telescope. Not happenin'.
However, my late father asked around, and it turned out that someone he knew
through the TV station where he worked at (as a broadcast engineer) had bought
the PJ for his kid. The kid, however, had wanted a GO CART, NOT A TELESCOPE,
and was pitching a duck-fit. This gentleman agreed to sell the PJ to us for 50
bucks. This was still a lot of money, but gathering up all the dough I'd gotten
for the last several years from aunts and uncles and grandmothers, etc. on
birthdays and Christmases, and with a substantial contribution from my dad, we
were able to swing it. Just barely. In fact, I believe the person allowed us to
pay it off in several monthly installments.
Once I had the scope in my hot little (12 year-old) hands, I proceeded to just
use the hell out of it. I took first light on Saturn, and it was a revelation.
Despite the almost closed aspect of the rings, it was beautiful...so much
better than my Tasco 3" reflector, which had spherical aberration similar to
that of a shaving mirror. Or the 6" f/12 atm scope I'd borrowed. The mirror was
pretty good (albeit with a deteriorating silver coating), but the mount (an old
light stand) and the heavy tube (riveted steel like a thick stove pipe) and
lack of finder made it a challenge to get the Moon in the field. Back in those
days, when suburbia was less light polluted (if not exactly dark, even in
1966), the PJ did a fine, fine job on lots of things. The whole Messier was
conquered (though I really had to convince myself that I'd seen M33 and M74 and
M101!).
In retrospect, I think my Dad had almost as much fun with the PJ as I did, and
it wasn't long before he was taking Moon pictures with it. Rather successfully
too (don't know HOW he got that giant old Exacta SLR of his balanced on it).
That's probably the main reason I still hold onto the scope and remember those
many nights out with it so fondly.
Course, in typical amateur astronomer fashion, even then, I was soon looking at
the pictures of the 6 and 8 Space Conguerors in Edmund's catalog. The RV6 also
caught my eye. But, the 4.25 was it for me for almost 10 years, until I
finished school, was out on my own, and bought a Cave 8 f/7. Curiously, the
Cave was sold ages ago (for funds to finance my first Orange Tube C8), but the
PJ still has a place of honor here at Chaos Manor South.
Al M
I almost want to go back in time.
My dad was a real fanatic of security. He would place chairs against
all the door knobs before bed. We lived in a nice area, BTW.
One night, I got up at 1AM to observe something. I got the PJ outside
and observed for about one hour. Unbeknownst to me, my dad had
awakened to check security and replaced the chair at the door that I
used. I couldn't get back in and observed til sun-up. I was one tired
puppy in school that day!
Al M
rmol...@aol.com (Rod Mollise) wrote in message news:<20030125110608...@mb-cf.aol.com>...
Rod Mollise
>puppy in school that day!
HI Al:
What a great memory! As for me, I introduced every single girlfriend during the
teenage years to PJ. Turned out he was something of a chick magnet! :-)
Dale
George McCouch wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I have been given an old reflector telescope that I was told had been
> produced by the Edmund Scientific company sometime in the late 50s or
> early 60s...Can anyone give me some info on old Edmund scopes,
> particulary this one?
>
> Thanks
>
> George
Boy, does this bring back memories--I still have my first telescope, a 3",
f/10 Edmund "Space Conqueror" reflector, complete with its 0.917" Ramsden
(microscope) eyepieces and fixed equatorial fork mount on a hardwood
tripod. It was purchased in 1958 for $29.95. I remember seeing the
"hole" in M-57 quite distinctly. The mirrors are still in surprisingly
good condition.
Dale
Dave Mitsky
snip
> Hi George,
>
> It sure sounds like a 'Palomar Jr.' on a pedestal instead of a tripod.
> It's a 4.25" f/10 spherical mirrored reflector and cost $74.95 FOB
> Barrington N.J. circa 1960 (at least the tripod mounted one) and I remember
> exactly! I saved up for a year and bought one then...it's still in the
> basement and still gets used on occasion. The GEM (German Equatorial Mount)
> leaves a bit to be desired, but it works reasonably well. Does yours have
> the tiny finder scope? Removing that and replacing it with something
> functional was my first modification.
>
> Dave Jessie
Dave,
Once upon a time I also owned a Palomar Jr.
Dave Mitsky
gbar...@bellsouth.net
Newtonians built since.I was able to obtain one from a freind back in
1976 and at that time it produced some of the best planetary views
for a small scope I'd seen.I'm a journal keeper and made observations
through it for about three years .The focuser was rock steady,and I
bought a couple of ORTHOSCOPIC eyepieces-9mm and 18mm that worked
quite well with it.I remember that Edmund also produced a 6-inch and
an 8-inch model with clock drive.(BTW I dont have the scope
anymore).Gary of the Vega Observatory.
Eugene Artemyeff
I had one of those too back in the early 60's. I think I wore the
paint off of that baby dragging it outside all the time. I recall
trying to see the Horsehead in it! LOL! But it did show M42 fairly
well. Brings back many memories too. Did you have that ridiculous
Barlow in the cardboard tube? Too bad it burned up in my Dad's garage
fire a few years ago. I would have loved to restore it just for
giggles. Clear skies,
Eugene
Dana Crom
wrote:
I got one in 1973 (birthday present). Good optics and mechanics for the
size, though the equatorial mount is rather undersized. I still have it,
though it hasn't been out for a while - my XT6 fills the "quick look"
niche these days. But even though I don't use it much, I can't bear to
part with it - too many memories, over too much time.
This is the scope I first split Epsilon Lyrae with, and M42/43, and many
others. The next Mars opposition I was out sketching every clear night.
M57, Albireo, Mizar, . . . I think I'll take it out to my back yard the
next clear night and see what it can do again.
The eyepiece is, most likely, the 25 mm Kellner that shipped with it. OK
for a Kellner of the era, I suppose - but a cheap Chinese import Plossl
will have better coatings and a wider field of view. If this is your
first scope, you may want to spring for a few good basic eyepieces from
some place like Hands On Optics or Orion.
Clear skies!
Dana
--
------------------------+--------------------------------------------------
Dana Crom / "Malt has done more than Milton can
da...@pacbell.net / To justify God's ways to man" A. E. Housman
San Jose, California / "Doubtless due to a wider audience" DLC
Rod Mollise
>for a Kellner of the era, I suppose - but a cheap Chinese import Plossl
>will have better coatings
Make that, "Would have coatings." :-)
The kellner Edmund shipped with these scopes (black barrel/housing marked '1"')
was made up from uncoated war-surplus lens elements.
Joseph C. Pistritto
eyepieces from Edmund. (25mm, 12mm, 4mm).
I still use the 25mm fairly often. I also got an 8.4mm->21mm Orthoscopic
Zoom with it (as my "expensive eyepiece" and i still use that daily). The
25mm Kellner is what i leave in the star diagonal on my Televue to keep dust
from gettign into it. However it still actually works reasonably well.
I had to take the mirror out of the Edmund to clean it, (which worked pretty
well actually), and now that its back in need to collimate it again.
However now that i own a C-8 and the Televue Pronto, i havent actually had
the Edmund out except occasionally.
I think i have the complete set of instructions for it around somewhere too.
-jcp-