[Quark (Trevor)]

Originally Posted by bird

Thanks Trev, I reckon you've gotta be happy with that result...

cheers, Bird

Thanks Bird.

Originally Posted by Lester

Now, now Trevor, you better stop that, otherwise space craft will become obsolete. A wonderful image, thanks for the view, and all the best.

Thanks Lester.

Originally Posted by BLiTZWiNG

Awesome images Trevor!

Now, I know I don't know much about telescopes, but I was under the impression that ~10/12"+ wasn't really much good inside Earths atmosphere, obviously this is not true, can you (or anyone else) tell me why at all?

Before I launch into my reply please be aware that I have nothing against smaller scopes and that my reply is from the perspective of planetary imaging. There are many extremely talented deep sky imagers that use small scopes to great effect producing mouth watering images of many deep sky objects. Often these images are the result of many tens of hours of exposure time. Planetary imaging however, is a different game.

Thanks BIiTZ, there is simply no substitute for aperture, in poor seeing a smaller scope may seem to provide a smaller scale image that is steadier than a larger scope and with more contrast.

In good seeing aperture is king. With smaller scopes the increased contrast that some talk about is simply the result of looking at a bright object through an instrument that has very little light gathering power which means that the sky will be darker. A 10 or 12" scope makes a fine observing instrument and you should not be put off by any claims that they are some how so effected by our atmosphere that they would be less desirable. Go to any star party and the longest line up of people will be at one of the largest scopes on the field.