The photograph with Yuri getting ready to make the caber toss nicely shows the position of an eyepiece when looking at objects near zenith...about knee height? Surely there must be a more comfortable quality instrument for looking at stars for US$50k?
The photograph with Yuri getting ready to make the caber toss nicely shows the position of an eyepiece when looking at objects near zenith...about knee height? Surely there must be a more comfortable quality instrument for looking at stars for US$50k?
Meh.. it's still only a 10". Quite a few newtonians would slay that, starting with the 16" at Mt Bowen.
And I know of an 11" with Intes optics at strehl 0.985 that would eat its lunch on double stars, lunar & planetary, at 1/3 the cost.
if you want sheer image quality:
Under 130mm, refractors rule.
130-275mm - Maksutov Cassegrains rule - primarily those with Intes optics, and the Skywatcher ones are OK.
Above 250mm big newtonians are the only practical option for most.
...supplemented by a 24" F3.3 Dob if in reasonably dark skies 
