Quote:
Originally Posted by Renato1
I suspect you would have a hard time splitting the tiny companion star from Antares with the big dob.
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Hmm ..as the owner of three refractors and two reflectors I would have to say in my experience this is not true unless you frequent Newts with poorly cooled , poorly collimated optics of dubious quality . I'm afraid my Newts trounce the refractors on every task I can offer and I would expect them too .
If I want to see perfect mathematic stars on any night I can put a small aperture stop on the Newts to cripple their ability to resolve the atmospheric turbulence ( and any other target for that matter ) and I can drop the magnification down to mimic that in the smaller refractor. Win - pinpoint stars . It is a `myth ' that a smaller aperture scope will show _more_ than a lerger one at any time ...all the detail will be there at least as much as the smaller aperture and maybe not as clean but it will be there.
You can't beat the portability , freedom from collimation responsubility and dust seal of a smaller refractor but that comes at a big cost considering you can buy a good 8" dob for $399 which will probably be superior for most tasks .
I don't feel threatened in these discussions because I own them all but I don't like to see Newts maligned as they are so effective at such a lower cost .
I dont like to see refractor owners over aggrandizing the capability of their instruments. Refractors work so well for some people but please don't peddle nonsense about Newtonians .