Quote:
Originally Posted by morls
It seems, from people's comments, that there aren't too many negatives where a 4" refractor is concerned...as long as the quality is OK.
Bob, do you think the 8" SCT would be used more if it was the only scope you had, and was on the mount permanently? Or to put it another way, is the weight of mount + OTA too great to carry at once, say from a garage to the viewing site 30m away?
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If I only had one scope, however humble, it still would be used a lot!
Actually, part of the attraction of the 4" is that I can pick it up and dodge trees etc.
Still, in some wonderful world where the physical ergonomics of using either scope was equal, for the brighter objects (say anything over Mag 8), I would rather the 4". These have become my preferred objects to view and I love the crispness of refractors.
However, if U go down the path of observing galaxies, U will want a larger scope. The last time I looked at the splendid galaxy NGC 253 under a dark sky with the 8", I was blown away. However, till then, I was thinking that I chose the wrong scope for the evening. After that, I wished I had brought 2 scopes!
That said, if U have an 8" scope for observing them, U will probably soon will be dreaming of a 12" Dob.