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!
always remember there is something called law of dimishing returns.
Hmm, don't really agree with this statement. I'm not quite sure what 'input' are you talking about. Probably the cost/weight of the scope? Maybe you feel that the views provided by extra aperture don't deserve the extra cost/weight.
Unfortunately, these kind of things are not linear. For example, you wouldn't need to spend 4 times as much money or carry 4 times as much weight as let's say, a 8" than a 4". Seriously, it would depend on how much you are willing to spend/carry/etc. for extra image brightness/contrast/mount stabilty/etc. You get a 300% increase(400-100) in image brightness when using a 8" scope than a 4" scope. This is unlike the famous linear example of 1kg of seed yield 1 ton grain, 2kg of seed DO NOT yield 2 ton grain, etc.
wrong wrong wrong. aperture, even if we measure in area, only increase in ^2. but the bulk, when measured in volume, increases by ^3. bulk will forever increase far more than aperture. also, i do not agree with the 300% thingy, if we were to go by magnitude, that's maybe 1+ mag, nothing to write home about. my advise, get the largest u can reasonably move around.
no point typing so much here, u just have to see that 6" f/5 dob for urself to understand it's appeal.
~MooEy~
+1 magnitude is a big difference! Don't look down on that. Let's say our city skies is around mag 4. If we can increase just by another magnitude, I can safely say most of us can already cut down our trips to Mersing.
Those bigger dobs say 12" and above have to increase many folds just to increase one magnitude difference. But those smaller dobs can just increase by a little bit to get that one magnitude difference.
I can imagine how cute and portable a 6" f/5 is. But if you factor in another tripod or a stool to bring up the height, the portability factor would be as close as an 8" f/5. dob. It's 3 pieces (6" scope + mount+ stool/tripod) against 2 pieces (8" scope + mount). I think they take up almost the same amount of space or even total weight.
Rich,
Since you have the boot space, I don't see why an 8" dob is considered too big. It should fit easily in a boot, in two pieces and no need to setup like the portaball. A 6" still gives aperture fever.. I think the slightly extra cost and bulk should be worth the return in view.
Also, remember that setting circles can be drawn on a dob so all you have to do is find the lat/long. from your pda and slew the dob to the position. "Manual" goto! ;) Seriously, locating targets manually is half the fun for me.
VinSnr wrote:
+1 magnitude is a big difference! Don't look down on that. Let's say our city skies is around mag 4. If we can increase just by another magnitude, I can safely say most of us can already cut down our trips to Mersing.
mersing skies is prolly 2-3 mag difference from our skies. whether u have 3" or 30", the desire to go mersing still lingers.
back to the previous point, a 4" already give almost 5 mag difference from the naked eye. moving up another 4" to 8" only give like 1.7mag. the increase in magnitude seems to drop off rapidly. moving up another 4" from 8" to 12" only give another 1 mag. the amount of bulk increase way faster than the increase in mag.
conclusion, i'll still advise one to get the largest that he/she can move around reasonably.
Airconvent wrote:
no lah...just joking...it would be madness to bring the scope back like that but I'm just thinking a hardcore aperture addict like cc would not let the opportunity pass....hopefully he will bring back an N8 and then get tired of it and sell to me....
rich
No jumbo sized SCTs for me though I may bring back the N5. Rich, I will see if I can send u the orion catalogue but I don't see u buying an Orion Dob as the shipping is going to kill you. And no, I won't hand carry it into the aircraft cabin
But really, I think 6" is not really an effective cure for ur aperture fever. U get a good jump in viewing capability with an 8" scope, so pls do urself a favour and get a 'real' upgrade, espy since u have a car. Seeing ur URGE to upgrade to a larger scope from ur current 105mm which u thought was large enough when u bought it, I will bet a hundred dollars that u will be shopping for a larger scope within 6 months if u get the six-incher...
BTW, wondering if anyone is interested in buying my 8" portaball (which is in Singapore at the moment) as I have contracted aperture fever yet again.
acc wrote:
But really, I think 6" is not really an effective cure for ur aperture fever. U get a good jump in viewing capability with an 8" scope, so pls do urself a favour and get a 'real' upgrade, espy since u have a car. Seeing ur URGE to upgrade to a larger scope from ur current 105mm which u thought was large enough when u bought it, I will bet a hundred dollars that u will be shopping for a larger scope within 6 months if u get the six-incher...
BTW, wondering if anyone is interested in buying my 8" portaball (which is in Singapore at the moment) as I have contracted aperture fever yet again.
Hi CC,
Is the shipping cost that significant? The 6" Orion Dob is only around S$400 with the current favourable exchange rate. I assumed the shipping would be around S$200-$250, so final cost would be less than S$700?
And btw, no need to wonder if anyone is interested in your "curry pot". If you sell at $199, I can bet you EVERYONE here would be queuing from your place to Jurong to buy it....*ouch*...I just woke up!
The Boldly Go Where No Meade Has Gone Before Captain, RSS Enterprise NCC1701R United Federation of the Planets
go pick up a newt ota from astro scientific or someone else, build the mount urself. albert have gd pricing on celestron stuff now. he's selling the 10" f/5 newt + eq mount for 1.6k only. ota only should cost way lesser, prolly near 1.2k-1.3k.
he's selling the 10" f/5 newt + eq mount for 1.6k only
Are you sure?? May be the 10" F/5 OTA cost S$1.6K, not with the CG5 mount. I remember the last time I ask him about the CG5 price, he said that it is around S$1.2K without motors.
Have a nice day.
Yang Weixing "The universe is composed mainly of hydrogen and ignorance."
I think the slightly extra cost and bulk should be worth the return in view.
"The universe is composed mainly of hydrogen and ignorance."