Telescope Reviews: You ever go to the Refractor forum by mistake?

That I'd like to See!!!!!!

Jon,
I have seen something like that. A friend with a supreb TEC 140mm f/7 Apo compared it to my 11" Dob side by side, on M13. The view was much brighter and more detailed, and equally contrasty, in the Dob.And it is stil better in my 16" Dob though I have not made a direct comparison to the TEC. The TEC 140 plus mount costs about the same as my 16" Dob and a few thousand more than my 11"Dob.

I don't go in much for direct comparisons, though, and I always compliment people on their scopes, I am glad if they enjoy what they have. But if they don't have a scope, I recommend a Dob of appropriate size.

On the other hand, if I wanted to see the entire Veil in one field of view, I would choose a small refractor with an OIII filter.

A small refractor could show M12 and M14 in the same field of view.
But a larger premium Dob gives a far more sastisfying image of each globular, in separate fields of view.

I think that in the desert or mountainous southwest, a small refractor will show a lot, but in average Midwest conditions, it is not too good for deep sky. I found that al friend's fine 90mm Apo showed much too faint an image of IC 4565 to suit me, so I canceled my order for a similar scope.

Many years ago I first saw Saturn through a small refractor, with the Junior Astronomy Club of New York's Hayden Planetarium. from a site in Sheep Meadow in Central Park. I was transfixed by the image and immediately hooked on amateur astronomy. The image was stunning.

Many years laster I looked at Saturn through a 3.5 inch Questar and I was surprised at how sharp the image was. Then, out of curiosity, I walked over the the club scope, a 14" reflector with a Wessling mirror. I was shocked at how much sharper the 14" was, the little Questar image seemed blurry by comparison.

I had a friend who was a fine maker of reflector optics, who called small refractors "toy telescopes." I am told that Albert Highe, a very innovative telescope designer, won't look through an aperture smaller than six inches. I am pretty sympathetic to these views, given my Midwestern skies.

I will say, though, that the 4.5 inch aperture of my Starblast has proven very good for grab and go views and for views of very widefield objects like the Perseus OB association.

But I think scopes, reflectors or refractors, with apertures less than about 3.5 inches will prove disappointing to most people in most observing situations.

But, chacun a son gout, everyone to this own taste and his own situation.

Bill

Edited by auriga (12/05/12 06:34 PM)

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