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[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Telescope contribution to the Chicago Astronomer arsenal
The "Robert Bolesta" collection
23 October 2023

I was contacted by a very nice lady who asked if I would like her Dad's Astro gear.

"Certainly!"  I said, as I am always accepting gear, accessories and anything pertaining to Astronomy and add to the Chicago Astronomer arsenal.  She had mentioned that her Dad was a modest observer and would use his gear from time to time, but it mostly sat unattended for long periods of time.  He was a dentist in the St. Louis area and recently passed in the Spring of 2023.  Laura follows as a Chicago Astronomer fan and thought of me and my astro students to see if we could use the scopes.

We met and she and her husband had all the gear ready to go of two telescopes, tripods and accessories.

The first was a Meade 8" SCT on a fork mount...

      

Dusty, but in good solid condition.  Importantly, the scopes were capped and the optics in near to pristine condition, with slight dust on the corrector plate.

  

Excellent!

When I have some time, I will take it all apart, including the mount and give it a good deep cleaning and lubrication.  It will be ready for service soon.

Included were an assortment of accessories, included this cool TeleVue 22mm Panoptic Eyepiece...

  

It will serve in delivering the cosmos well.

There were also:  A Telrad, Finder scopes, hand controllers and a Maksutov scope, which I am eager to test out... 

  

On to the other scope....

Included in the treasures of donated gear, was a 5" Nexstar scope....

Slightly dusty, the batteries had seen better days and were from 2008...

But again, the good Dr. had the caps on and the optics are near pristine, with just slight dust...

  

I gave it the once over and it all looked good...and I do not have a 5" Nexstar in my collection of scopes.  So this is good.  With limited time, I thought I would power it up and see if it came to life....and it did without hesitation. ..

Maria and I enjoyed quick views of Jupiter, now high in the sky and the optics were very good, with no need for collimation.  The hand controller was responsive and I was satisfied.  I will wait for a free weekend to test out the 8" Meade and evaluate the optics and electronics, but I expect it to be superb.



I do thank Laura for thinking of me and donating her Dad's astro gear to the Chicago Astronomer.  His legacy will continue and the scopes will live on to serve and bring enjoyment to thousands of sky lovers all across the city and for my Astronomy students to learn on. (Man, I wish I had this gear when I was younger...!)

(NOTE:  If any of my Chicago Astronomer fans have scopes or other optical equipment they wish to contribute to urban astronomy, please do contact me - [e-mail]

Excelsior!

Astro Joe