FOR SALE: Astro-Physics 175EDF Starfire OTA, 1100GTO CP3 Mount & Pier

[Camerabooks.com Support]

Three very nice Astro-Physics items offered for sale:

1)  175EDF Starfire 1400mm f8 air-spaced triplet OTA serial number 175EDF35 with flattener, focuser extension, rings, Losmandy-spec dovetail, caps and hard case. Amazing condition, likely used very little if at all, very clear glass and coatings, little if any signs of use. A once in a lifetime telescope. $25,000

2)  1100GTO CP3 mount, complete except for a counterweight bar. Bought directly from Astro-Physics in 2013, appears to have never been used, still in factory boxes. Tested insofar as the motors run and the hand controller readout is normal. No further testing done, sold as-is, where-is. Two brand new counterweights included. $7500

3)  An unused but slightly storage-worn 48” “Portable Pier” will initially be available only to the buyer of the mount at $700.

Photos and more details available upon request.

These items are in Santa Cruz, California. Prospective buyers will have to come inspect them in their current location and if to be purchased only via a cashiers check or cash presented to a local bank. They will not be shipped nor sold in any other manner. Sorry, no trades.

[Jamie Dillon, DDK]

This might ring a bell for longtime TACos. That was Rod Norden's telescope. Fantastic instrument. Unfortunately, Rod died. Good guy, always intrigued with refractors. I'll never forget the view of Mars thru his scope in 2000 or so, up on the Peak. Looking at the north polar cap and Vastitas Borealis, vast dune fields.

[Richard Navarrete]

I saw an ad for it on Facebook marketplace. Rod was an intense and interesting guy. Had lots of fun stories to tell. 

Richard

Sent from the all new AOL app for iOS

On Saturday, May 9, 2026, 2:45 PM, Jamie Dillon, DDK <ngc1...@gmail.com> wrote:

This might ring a bell for longtime TACos. That was Rod Norden's telescope. Fantastic instrument. Unfortunately, Rod died. Good guy, always intrigued with refractors. I'll never forget the view of Mars thru his scope in 2000 or so, up on the Peak. Looking at the north polar cap and Vastitas Borealis, vast dune fields.

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[Peter Natscher]

The AP175 wasn't made that early in 2000. You were probably looking through his longer AP 180EDT. I remember in the 1990's watching him mount his long and heavy 180EDT while he stepped up a couple of rungs on a step ladder next to the pier to reach the mount's saddle.  He was struggling.

[Jay Freeman]

I remember the night Rod had first light with his AP 180. Rich Neuschaefer and I had a bit of fun with him at that time. We were at Fremont Peak, the sun had set, and ...

Rich approached me and advised that another observer -- Rod -- whom I had not met at the time -- had just taken delivery of a new Astro-Physics 180, but there was a small defect dead center on the inside air/glass surface of the objective. Rich said that to him, it appeared that the problem was merely a tiny paint chip, a couple of millimeters wide, that could probably be removed easily, but that Rod was extremely worried that his brand new and shiny humungeous Astro-Physics refractor had a permanent defect that would render its images less than uttely awesome. After a few moments planning, Rich walked me up to Rod and his instrument, introduced me as an experienced observer who had a lot of experience, and suggested that I should star-test the new telescope and evaluate it.

Note that at this time, Rod did NOT know me, and did NOT know that I knew about the "defect". Furthermore, neither Rich nor Rod said anything about the alleged defect when I was standing at the telescope, and I did not look at the objective myself, I merely stepped to the focuser -- the telescope was set on a bright star -- and started observing. It appeared to be a completely "blind" test by an unbiased knowledgeable person.

The star test was dead-on textbook quality -- there was no trace of any effect of the paint chip -- but I didn't say that. Instead, I worked the focuser back and forth, hemmed and hawed for a bit, and finally stated that the optics were excellent, but that there appeared to be a small defect of some kind at the center of the objective. I said that the defect was definitely there, but not to worry, it was unlikely to cause any noticeable degradation of observed images. That is, I had just told Rod that his new pride-and-joy was less than perfect.

Rod became quite upset. After a few agonized screams, his reaction was "Where's my gun!" (Rod was also a serious firearms collector.) To this day I am not sure whether he wanted to shoot himself, shoot the telescope, or shoot me!

Of course, Rich and I immediately let him in on our deception, and the paint chip was subsequently removed via directions from Astro-Physics -- I recall it required detaching the objective cell from the end of the tube and lifting the chip away with a small camel's-hair brush. Rod subsequently sold the 180 and eventually regretted doing so. I made up for our prank later, by pointing out to him that Astro-Physics was having an auction for the handful of 175-mm instruments they had made. Rod entered that auction and got one!

-- Jay Reynolds Freeman
---------------------
Jay_Reynol...@mac.com
http://JayReynoldsFreeman.com (personal web site)

[Jay Freeman]

I must correct myself -- it wasn't an auction, it was a random drawing -- you sent in your name, they put it in a list and selected customers (at a pre-set, constant price) at random from that list, for as many telescopes as they had been able to produce.

-- Jay Reynolds Freeman
---------------------
Jay_Reynol...@mac.com
http://JayReynoldsFreeman.com (personal web site)

> On May 9, 2026, at 18:01, Jay Freeman <jay_reynol...@mac.com> wrote:
>
> [...] Astro-Physics was having an auction for the handful of 175-mm instruments they had made.

[Jeff Crilly]

I’m sad to hear Rod passed. He will be missed at Lick Observatory.

Fwiw, I (and mostly Rich N. ) helped Rod setup that AP175 at Lick Observatory one summer. It was mounted on Rich’s AP900 as Rod did not have the 1100 yet. It performed well of course . And it was a huge OTA. Took two people (one being Rod) to safely get it up on the rings, but then Rod and the rest of us had high anxiety about this OTA. I’m a bit sad that I’m not quite in the right place to attempt to acquire this instrument— it really belongs in an observatory, and/or used for outreach (imo).

Yes it was acquired from the lottery. Rod was definitely one of the lucky “winners” (he told me the story while we were up at Lick.) Iirc there were ten or so made. Story is Roland found some fluorite blanks in storage left over from the AP180 days… and they decided to make a very limited batch with those blanks.

-Jeff


> On May 9, 2026, at 6:13 PM, 'Jay Freeman' via The Astronomy Connection (TAC) <sf-ba...@googlegroups.com> wrote:
>
> I must correct myself -- it wasn't an auction, it was a random drawing -- you sent in your name, they put it in a list and selected customers (at a pre-set, constant price) at random from that list, for as many telescopes as they had been able to produce.

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[Mark Wagner]

I'm also saddened to hear Rod is gone.  He had many of the characteristics of the Baby Face Nelson in Oh Brother Where Art Though (love of guns, near trigger temper, and soft heart).  Condolences to his family and (if they were still together) Kris.

Little known was his grandfather (Carl) developed the Norden Bombsight, used during WWII.

And yes, Jay's recount of his "adventure" with the AP is classic Rod.

Rod was also a regular (from the start) at our early Mount Lassen Star Parties, which lead to SSP and GSSP.

What a fun guy.  Here he is (blurry old 90's photo) I took of him dressed in a wizard costume to run the public program on 30" at Fremont Peak.

Thanks for the fun, Rod.

[Camerabooks.com Support]

Hey Jeff, thanks for your input. 

I'm surprised to hear the 175 was ever mounted, there's no sign of ring marks or any usage on the OTA. 

I've read the story about Rod getting the scope directly from AP via the lottery but AP has no record of selling it to him, I specifically asked them. Perhaps their records are not complete. They also wouldn't state how many were made. Lots of opinions on that but as the serial number is 175EDF35 it would seem plausable at least 35 were made.

Tom

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[Camerabooks.com Support]

Hey Mark, thanks for the note. Not very familiar with the family but Kris was in the house until recently moved to a county facility for her care, suffering from Alzheimers. While I directly bought most of the astronomy gear I'm brokering the sale of the Starfire, the 1100GTO mount and the pier with no direct monetary compensation to me, just helping Kris as apparently Kris's financial situation isn't the greatest. 

In the house was a plastic cased Norden bombsight, destined to be sent to Rod's brother back east. 

Tom

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