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I dunno. I usually use the brute force method and use my 16X70 Fujinons on it. It is such an easy split with these. I could paint the bathroom with a Q-tip too, but what would be the point?

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Well that same logic can lead you to question the value of looking through any amateur telescope - when it's obviously going to be vastly inferior to the Keck or the Hubble (I have actually heard some people express a disinterest in Astrophotography on that account). Or whether you sell off all your smaller telescopes when you finally get that 25" Dob.

It all depends on what your objective is. Big Dob owners often wonder why anyone bothers to observe DSO's in a 5" refractor, but that's because their sole interest is in eking out the maximum amount of detail. For me, that's only part of the equation. Part of it is learning the night skies, so I know where all the constellations, major stars and Messier objects are. Part of it is the fun of finding objects. Part of it is learning new starhops to find things more easily. Part of it is just the satisfaction of locating m4 even when it's only 12° above the horizon.

I find it just as much fun to catch a faint 10th Magnitude galaxy in my 4" scope as I do finding a faint 13th magnitude galaxy in my 15" scope.

I guess I look at double-stars as a challenge of visual acuity, a measure of how good the seeing is, how much better I'm getting with practice. On that basis, I would find it just as much fun trying to split a 14 arc-second double in 10x42 binoculars as I do trying to split a 1.1 arc-second double in my 5" refractor.

That being said, I'm taking out my 11x56 binoculars tonight to look at this, but my eyesight is not the best, so I'll be surprised if I see it split!

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