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Old 19-04-2019, 08:44 AM
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mental4astro (Alexander)
kids+wife+scopes=happyman

mental4astro is offline
 
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: sydney, australia
Posts: 4,979
Hi Jeremy, it stems from just not being aware of the strengths and weaknesses of different apertures.

Take binos - the most underestimated astro tool there is! Small aperture, but tthey are low magnification, meaning the image is concentrated, hence they are rich field scopes, and as you use both eyes, our brain combines the image from both eyes into one richer image than we can get from using one eye. All this means thete are details that binos (and other rich field scopes) can reveal that are very difficult or even impossible for larger apertures and longer focal lengths to show.

I LOVE my 100mm f/5 refractor! I can see the wider context of a DSO with its immediate surrounds. I can see the lacework dark nebulosity that riddles M7 inside and out that is totally invisible to my 17.5" dob! My big dob is absolutely useless for this!

We can get caught up thinking our gear is inadequate because we think it is too small - we just need to know the strengths of our gear and then exploit that to get the best from it

That is why I have 12 scopes, from 2" through to 17.5", four refractors, 1 Mak, 1 SCT, mostly Newts and a pair of 11X70 binos Some I use exclusively from home, others at dark sites, some for rich field, others as light buckets, couple just for Moon and planets, and even a couple for outreach and sidewalk astronomy. Oh, two of the fracs, one is a PST and the other is just for the Quark filter.

Hmmm, I could have a problem...

Dan, you have a very capable scope. Don't think otherwise

Alex.
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