[pgc hunter]

Don't worry, Alpha Centauri and other bright stars look like crap through both my 12" and 8" dobs, both premium optics.... I do have slight astigmatism in my eyes so that probably contributes, but also the spider, dirt/dust/crud on the optics and central obstruction conspire to create mangled images of bright stars. That, and typical seeing conditions. Fainter stars tend to look much cleaner in both my newts. I remember back in the days of good seeing before this cursed year, fainter stars at 500x in the 12" presented nice airy disks, still pounded by seeing, but still it started to approach those false and non-achievable delusions of perfection you find in startesting textbooks!