Many of you might recall seeing the long, gleaming white tubes atop jet-black equatorial mounts gracing back covers of astronomy magazines. Some may even have had their first views of the Moon, planets, or a galaxy through such an instrument. But how do these instruments compare with today's affordable refractors? After all, shouldn't a good refractor from any age be just as good today? While my first telescope had been a poor-quality Tasco (of course), I had long been tempted to own one of these marvels from the bygone days but could never make the leap. Fortunately, there are braver souls than me, and a new movement to repurpose and refurbish items has taken hold. As a result, some people have discovered that many telescopes don't have to be newer to be better. Shane Ludtke, one of my observing partners, is such a person. We recently spent an evening observing with his 63-mm Zeiss Telementor. I have to say there really is something magical about these old 'scopes, so I did a bit of a Q&A with Shane when he was a guest speaker at my astronomy class.
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