Quote:
Originally Posted by GH1967
Thanks.
This is a little disconcerting. You're basically saying observational astronomy is colourless and soon gets tedious, and only astrophotgraphy and the colours it can bring out is really worth pursuing?
If thats the case I don't think this is dobsonian-specific, because as I understand it you see less with an EQ mount than a dob (except maybe on planets), and everything is still 'greyscale' with an EQ unless you get into photography?
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Thats about the size of it I am affraid but we all have our preferences and this is simply my opinion. As you have said it is not dob specific, even the largest amature scopes will only reveal a hint of colour as they cannot collect enough photons to fire the cones on our retina. You may love visual observing but you will never see the universe in the bright colours seen in so many of the astro mags. That is why I suggest you get a goto EQ mount. You can still mount a good size newt on it as well as other types of scope (there is no one scope type that does it all) and if you are not satisfied with visual observing you have the basic tools to try your hand at taking pics without having to accept the pain of selling off gear cheap so you can move on to other things. There are many other advantages to a goto as well e.g. finding targets quickly so you can spend more time looking rather then searching as well as the mounts ability to keep a target centered in the eyepiece. The argo navis units are good for finding things on a dob and are reasonably priced but tracking systems for dobs cost big bucks and are only worth the financial pain if you have a real monster, otherwise they are not good value. I am not against visual astronomy by the way and many on this forum love to do just that. I prefer to try my hand at all aspects in this hobby and taking pics certainly adds that missing dimension for me.
Mark