Here is the place to talk about all those equipment(Telescope, Mounts, Eyepieces, etc...) you have. Not sure which scope/eyepiece is best for you? Trash it out here!
Yup agreeable. Last Sunday full moon was so horrible. It was so faint that with my eyes.. it was much brighter than my 50mm finderscope (5mm exit pupil) and C5 (at 1.7mm exit pupil). I could even see more details with my naked eye than all these equipment! It shows that the maximum amount of light a telescope how big, on extended objects is always dimmer than the naked eye. It will never be brighter because there is no 100 percent transmission for telescope and eyepiece combination. Lastly it demonstrated again to me that there must be brightness in order to see contrast and features (that is why if looking out for fine details on the moon.. never use the moon filter. I tried it many times and time again many low contrast craters cannot be seen at all). My eyes could make out the Mares on the Moon, but my C5 couldn't even make out any! I had even a hard time finding the moon... duh.
However, I have yet to compare the 12.5 inch with my C5. I think there will be difference. The difference I guess would be mainly on the transmission and central obstruction (SCT has huge obstruction). My 12.5 inch transmission would definitely be higher than the C5 as the mirrors are high reflectivity and there are only 2 surfaces compared to 3 surfaces for a SCT. Also, it still does not explain why I saw quite a noticeable difference in brightness with my scope and the 10 inch. Hmm....The image size is not so much different as the focal length is quite close. I would guess is the transmission (as the 12.5 inch has 96 percent reflection coating..enhanced) and the slight difference in image scale. Perhaps we can do some more tests and see how it goes. I do not think the brightness will be exactly the same between a real small scope and a bigger scope but probably quite close; it probably won't be like 2x brighter for the bigger scope.
I do not think the brightness will be exactly the same between a real small scope and a bigger scope but probably quite close; it probably won't be like 2x brighter for the bigger scope.