About Larry Patriarca of Universal Astronomics.

If it hadn't been for a small inexpensive Jason refractor being in the right place at the right
time, I may never have gotten into the hobby and certainly might not be in a full time business
in the hobby. In February of 1997, the media hype of the Hale-Bopp comet had me thinking
about my kids’ next Christmas present, who were 7 and 8 years old at the time. I remarked
to my wife that we should consider a telescope as the ideal family gift for the next Christmas.
My impulsiveness for buying astro gear was born the very next day when, by coincidence, I
walked into the local pawn shop and for the first time in 20 visits to the store, there stood a
telescope; a black short tube 60mm Jason refractor. To this day, it is still the most efficient,
complete scope I have ever seen. Instead of a diagonal, it had a fixed rotating turret with 20,
10, and 4mm eyepieces. And, in the focuser housing, it had a rotating drum that had 3
positions-either an unobstructed view, 2x Barlow, or a moon filter built in. The price tag of
$135 seemed like a steal for such a high quality professional piece of equipment (obvious
newbie-itis). I still nit picked every cosmetic blem I could find and proudly walked out with my
$90 first telescope. Within a year of owning it, it gave me my first view of a comet (Hale-Bopp
of course), Jupiter (stumbled across it one night, what a first experience that was), Saturn
(which I easily found with charts after finding Jupiter), and a handful of Messier targets and
double stars. Also in that first year, I improved the scope any way I could think of. I replaced
the wimpy tripod spreader with machined aluminum parts, replaced the finder bracket with a
machined aluminum one, and made the tragic mistake of chopping off the rotating turret to
substitute a better diagonal and eyepieces. While this certainly did improve the image about
50-100%, it was not long after that I discovered Astronomy and Sky & Telescope magazine
and the wealth of real equipment to chose from. My next purchase was a Celestron C5. At
the time, I felt that I might have wasted my time modifying the Jason, but now I feel that I
destroyed something that was destined to be a collectable someday in its original form. I still
have the scope and will never part with it, I can’t help but look at it standing in the corner
collecting dust without thinking to myself, “where would I be today, if I didn’t buy that scope
on that fateful day”.

About Universal Astronomics
Universal Astronomics has built a strong reputation for quality products and services to meet
the needs of the discriminating observer. UA’s innovative product lines have always had a
common goal to be the most versatile mounting systems ever conceived and we still strive to
meet and exceed that goal. Every sale at UA is tailored to maximize the customer’s viewing
experience with considerations for a possibility of a variety of optics, tripods, travel needs,
and observing preferences. How did we get here?

I started out by first building my own binocular parallelogram mount after seeing a competing
mount at a local star party in Oct, 98. The one I built for myself was far superior to the
competing model and I decided then to manufacturer them. Surveyor-type tripods which were
readily available at any Home Depot become the tripod of choice given their
strength/weight/cost ratios compared to expensive heavy duty camera tripod (which are now
offered as well). At the time, we lived in a second floor apartment of a three story (“3-decker”
as they are referred to here in New England) located in Worcester, MA (about 40 miles West
of Boston). The first floor, in dire need of renovation, was leased from the landlord, and UA
had its first home. The first 50 units were built with only a miter saw fitted with an aluminum
cutting blade, a table saw (same blade), a drill press, and a belt sander. We entered the
market place at our first NEAF (North East Astronomy Forum) in May, 99 where the
UniMount Basic and Deluxe models were first introduced. I didn’t sell a single unit but my
wife’s encouragement (as well as new-found friend Howie Glatter of laser collimator fame)
prevented me from giving up and sales started to accumulate over that summer. As sales
grew, the need for better quality prompted contracting out production, but it wasn’t long before
being competitive meant manufacturing in-house was necessary and the purchase of a
benchtop milling machine and lathe quickly solved the problem since their machine weights
of 700 lbs each didn’t cause them to crash thru the floor of the apartment. Production
demands required larger heavier machines as well as additional floor space and the 900
square feet of the apartment was outgrown. The operation was moved to its current residence
at 6 River Court, Webster, MA (about 15 miles south of Worcester). The addition of a full size
lathe and milling machine allowed all restrictions on production to be removed. In March of
2002, the first UniStar alt-az (altitude/azimuth) was built and it has flourished ever since. UA’s
residence in Webster has grown from 1600 square feet to over 4000. Products have grown
from 2 model styles of bino mount to about 12 different models of bino and alt-az mount, as
well as a variety of tripods and accessories to accommodate most any optic in the
astronomy marketplace.

The Astronomy Shop

1 Tone Hill. Wellington

Somerset TA21 0AU

United Kingdom

Telephone: +44 (0)1823 665510