It was in Sharper Image and other popular science oriented magazines. It was quite short and had a bulbous base that I assume rested in some holder. It was advertised all over the place as some kind of breakthrough design. IIRC they used the word “Newtonian” to describe it. It wasn’t all that cheap I think it was $300 - $500 IIRC.
What was it called?
Celestron, by any chance?
Your mention of a “bulbous base” makes me think of the Edmund Scientific Astroscan telescope, which looks like a sphere attached to a cylinder. This ad describes it, or a similar looking telescope, as Newtonian.
I found sites where it’s praised as a piece of modern design.
Was it an Astroscan?
eta: Rats! Ninja’ed by *that *much!
That’s it thanks! I never noticed another like it. Did the design not work out?
Not sure about the design but I DID bang the model.And yes, I did see stars… Her name was Amanda. We were in the same philosophy class.
I have one.
It’s a nice, inexpensive scope, but it’s not suitable for serious viewing, because it can’t be clock-driven or tracked.
The scope i (and everyone) wanted was the Questar, which made Celestron look like a toy.
I think that it’s just that the Astroscan managed to very nicely fill its niche, of easy-to-use starter scope, so there wasn’t any room for direct competitors. It looks like they’re still around.
Agreed. We’ve gotten a lot of use and enjoyment out of ours, it’s very good for what it does, but even at our amateur level of expertise we quickly butt up against the scope’s limitations.
