Telescope Reviews: Our refractors: for visual, or imaging?

Seemingly, casual, amateur astrophotography, as opposed to to that of the scientific community, amounts to little more than a brief, static, falsified increase in aperture, in that a camera attached to, say, a 5" f/6 refractor, collects more and more photons the longer the shutter is open, capturing on film what one would see live otherwise, in an instant, viewing through a much larger objective. Certainly many unfamiliar with the pastime upon seeing an astrophotograph believe that what they're seeing on film is precisely what they'd see when looking through the eyepiece. They look, and are disappointed. Of course, the photographer finds himself quite satisfied with the results, as he and he alone understands the difference. It's a very personal thing to the astrophotographer, and one which I fully understand; however...

I, personally, could never present my refractor as less than for what it truly is, which is why I am solely a visual observer, preferring live, dynamic views with my own eyes in the here and now. Besides, one could never duplicate here on Earth the photographs taken by the Hubble, or in future perhaps, those by the James Webb, if successful; the futility being just that.

We've all enjoyed on occasion viewing photographs of family and friends gone by, but they're only reflections and representations of who and what they were. Wouldn't you rather a "time portal" for observing them in their day-to-day lives, hearing their voices and watching them in motion, alive? Of course you would, especially the ones, during your own life, you had come to know and love. Home movies, photographs in motion, approximate the experience, but they wouldn't be the same, if said portal were in existence. Now consider...

Analogously, in your possession is a device, a "time portal" that will allow you to observe others alive still; said portal being, the refractor. When you view, say, Betelgeuse, a red supergiant, through your refractor, you see it as it appeared 640 years ago, and still alive, albeit at the point in its life where collapsing upon its core and then violently exploding outward into the void as a type II supernova is imminent, although in the distant future. However, there are those who believe that it may explode at any time during our own lives, its presence in the sunlit sky to be possibly far greater than those visible in 1054 and 1604 A.D....

...that is, barring an instantaneous, utter enveloping upon the event.

Not to worry, as the expanding Crab, another type II, is but a mere eleven light-years in diameter.

In short, which would be best upon the event: a static, regressive photograph, or a live observation?

Cheers,

Alan