Quote:
Originally Posted by bobson
I will have to agree with Calibos and what he wrote about 12" and 16" dobs, he wrote:
"That said, I am not expecting to be blown away by the move from 12-16in. Got my first look through a 20in a few weeks ago and while initially I thought WOW when I went back to my heavily modded albeit standard Orion Mirrored Orion XT12i and looked at the same objects through the same eyepiece, what I thought were new details revealed by the 20in were in fact there in my 12inch scope. I just hadn't noticed them before."
Just a couple a weeks ago I had a chance to compare my 12" Bintel Dob with friends Meade 16" Light Bridge and I was not blown away 
Mind you, 16" was better but just not that better that I would spend another $1500 for it. In my opinion that money would be better spent in buying couple of good quality eyepieces.
This is just my opinion regarding 12" and 16" dobs. |
Hi,
Some of this comes down to observing experience. It can take several years to properly develop and hone ones observing skills to see very faint detail in extended objects. An experienced observer under "dark" skies can sometimes detect a significant difference between a 12" and 16" scope, on dim extended targets, like galaxies, galaxy clusters , dim diffuse open and globular clusters and some planetary nebula. A less experienced observer may not see an enormous difference between 12" and 16" scopes, on the brighter targets, particularly under less than pristine skies.
That having been said, you can do a lot of very serious observing with a 12" telescope. A lifetime of it in fact. In the truss design, a 12" scope offers IMO the perfect compromise between portability/ transportabity and what you can see with it. It will go deep enough to see enough objects that you will not cover them all in a couple of lifetimes. It is also big enough to turn the bright showpiece targets into "eye candy".
Cheers,
John B