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Old 24-04-2019, 09:04 AM
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gaseous (Patrick)
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Join Date: May 2016
Location: Brisbane
Posts: 782
Hi Peter,


your 10" dob has a focal length of 1200mm, and the 16" dob would be 1800mm, so you'd be getting a 50% increase in magnification for any chosen eyepiece. (say, 120x (10") vs 180x (16") with a 10mm eyepiece). The views would certainly be brighter with the larger light gathering capacity, but to be honest I don't think planetary viewing is the target audience for these large dobs - I certainly never really used my old 16" for that sort of thing - it tended to sometimes make the views of Saturn and Jupiter a bit too bright, and therefore lost some detail. Not to say it can't be done, but if planets are your thing then something with more focal length and a great deal less cumbersome might be more suitable. Your 10" with the right eyepieces and / or barlow is probably fine for planets, but if you're also going to be chasing DSO's, then a 16" would be a step in the right direction.
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