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Welcome to the C-8 Home Page... such as it is.



I first put this page up more than 20 years ago and it looks like it! I've thought about taking it down, but I see a few people do look at it every week, so it remains.

Shortly after putting this page up I upgraded to the 16" f/4.5 StarMaster dobsonian. You can read about my partially successful attempt to put together a GO-TO system elsewhere on this page.

The old C-8 is still alive. I deforked it (removed it from the original fork mount)a few years ago and put it on a Celestron CGEM. Sold the CGEM last year and now have it on an Ioptron GEM45 - a LOT lighter mount! The Advanced Astromaster digital setting circles - bought more than 24 years ago from a vendor at the Winter Star Party - are still working perfectly on the 16" dobbie. I did have to replace one of the encoders some years back.

The C8 is a most capable telescope even today. I did the Astronomical League's Messier (award #1129), Herschel 400 (award #129) and Northern Arp galaxy lists (award #4-V) with this scope. As well, I observed most of the Herschel II objects before moving to the 16, but never sent in the observations to the AL.

Optically the C8 is great! During the 1999 unfavorable opposition of Mars, I boosted the power to 800X and had wonderful views of the planet.

Most of the photos on here were scans from film and very low resolution. I will be working to clean up the 20 year old mess.

Thanks for dropping in.

A guide to owning and using a C-8.





The author's C-8 ready for a night of observing at the 1996 Winter Star Party in the Florida Keys. Dark and steady skies bring out the best in your telescope. You can help with accurate collimation and polar alignment.



Getting the most out of your C-8