Quote:
Originally Posted by Mamba
Some two months ago I purchased my last telescope, again, and this time I mean it, again.
The scope is 130 mm F7 triplet and cost the high end of the four thousands so although this is a substantial amount of money it is not in the big league of Taks/TV/AP and all the other super stars.
In buying this scope I had certain expectations in mind and not to go into a long list of them I will give two examples. I expected to be able to see the four craterlets in Plato, I expected to be able to see the E and F stars in the Trapezium, Dawes' limits indicate that both these targets should not be a problem with this size of refractor, indeed Dawes' indicate that E and F are a challenge for a 100 mm refractor implying the it is not impossible, whereas I'm using a 130. This was not the case. I have had the scope out under the stars on about a dozen occasions and have ended my session sometimes decidedly unimpressed and sometimes content, damned by faint praise indeed.
I am using a WO Quartz diagonal and a WO 4mm UWAN eyepiece and eyes that are 69 years old but I am the original owner. My skies are reasonable as I live in the outer northern suburbs of Melbourne and even my aged eyes can detect 4.5 mag stars.
My question to the more experienced of you is, have I overestimated the capabilities of such an instrument and am I doomed to purchase another last scope, again.
Mamba
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As food for thought last night I took a look through the most impressive 4' refractor I have ever looked through so far in my life. This was a Takahashi FC-100DC fitted with a dedicated extender-Q 1.6 which brought it up to f12. I could clearly see the E and hints of the F stars.
I have not been able to see these before in many other 100mm or smaller refractors such as Televues (NP101,TV85,TV76), WO110, SW ED100, ED80, Vixen ED81s, ED103s