Quote:
Originally Posted by overlord
Hi! My dobby is f/5, 8" so yeah, not really a planetary machine but i can see the cassini division around the edges now that its well collimated. I am very interested in the planets and would like to do some huge magnifications.....
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Ahh, working on the principle of 30x to 40x per inch of aperture on good nights, perhaps up to 50x on those rare exceptional nights - then there's no getting away that bigger scopes are going to work more comfortably to reach 300x+ mag (and all other considerations aside wrt portability, weight, cool down etc.). I'd agree with all above, a 10 to 12inch+ scope, either dob (tracking idea is great) or tracking SCT is your best bet.
On exceptional nights, the NP127 from 230 to 270x is wonderful on Jupiter, and even Uranus/Neptune are pretty (but tiny). I can really understand your desire for more grunt to get beyond 300x+. Whether a large tracking dob and/or SCT is grab n' go depends on your perspective, but for me, I peter out with an OTA beyond my TV NP127 ie. ~7kg. OK, I'm a wimp. Fox