I've had this 851TR for years, but only recently began doing anything with it. I was pleasantly surprised to pull in the moons of Jupiter, and a few other things though.

I have a couple of problems, one being that it's second hand with no manual, and the other being that the mount was broken when I bought it. I figured I could fix it. Well I'm finally getting around to it.

When I first bought it, I tried to find a manual for it, with no success. No many years later, the trail has grown even colder.

Is there an old paper repository for vintage telescopes? I've had good luck finding manuals for old woodworking machines, but these scopes are so cheap I imagine folks just haven't figured it was worth it.

I'm trying to figure out where all the parts go, and what they are for, so a manual with instructions and parts breakdown for a complete newbie would go a long way.


I suppose I could include a pic if anyone was interested.


I did get the spotter scope set up a little while ago. That will make things easier this evening at the star party.

It would be nice to have the equatorial mount set up tonight too. I'm looking at instructions to do that. Doesn't look too difficult...

That's a very old scope back when Tasco actually made a usable 60mm refractor. Well worth getting back up and running. Since all 60mm refractors and German equatoral mounts work about the same anyone familiar with telescopes can show you how to use it. No manual needed. Just contact a local club for the help you need. There's a strong bias against Tasco since so much of their later stuff was junk. But that doesn't apply to this scope. It is quite usable and worth getting up and running. Check these links for a club in your area.

http://www.astronomyclubs.com/
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/community/organizations

Any book on telescopes should cover what you need though the guys in the club will be able to give you hands on help and spot things you might not see that need work. Attending their star parties will help you start to learn the sky and what objects this scope can view and which are beyond its limits.

Unfortunately, equatorial mounts for 60mm refractors just add a layer of complication and are of little real use. But since that's what you have setting one up for visual use need not be complicated. Just set the elevation to your latitude and point it north. No need to get picky. Just ploping it down so it looks to be north is sufficient. No need to get all tied up in knots trying to align on Polaris or offsetting from it. Just set it to your approximate latitude point the polar axis north and start viewing.

For a diagram of what I mean by setting it to you latitude see the photo at this link. Go down to "The Equatorial Mount" This is actually a german equatorial mount, I suspect the kind you have.
http://www.larrydsmith.com/astro/mounts.html

I should also mention Jupiter's 4 moon are easily seen in binoculars. The scope should allow you to see the cloud belts and red spot as well that can't be seen easily in binoculars. Rings of Saturn and many of the brighter star clusters and nebula are also within its grasp. Don't expect much from Mars however. It's just too small.

Rick

I guess I'm really wanting the manual to see how the parts are put together more than I need it for instruction. The mount that bolts to the tube is broken on one end. The good end is fastened to the tube with the wingnut (but it seems to need the felt washer and cup which I can't seem to install) and the other end was just flopping around until I got some wire and looped and twisted it around...

It would be good just to get a good closeup picture.

Forgot to thank you for the links and the encouragement about this scope. I was under the impression that it was not that great. But perhaps I was mistaken...

Just need to find or make some parts for the broken stuff. The guy I bought it from had swung the tripod and EQ like a club, breaking an ear off the mounting boss.

I'll give a look see at the local club and see if anyone has info on this scope.

Oh. and the star party was a bust. The whole southeast is covered in clouds at the moment. I wish I'd gotten the thing out last night. It was cold and clear.

I recently found a mint condition 851TR when i was contracted to clean out a foreclosed home. No instructions or manual and I'm simply a novice had always been interested in astronomy but have had no education or knowledge. I'm wondering if you did ever happen to find a manual.