Quote:
Originally Posted by Satchmo
What a bizzarre thread - we go through all of this and end up with everyone agreeing a sub 10" APO would be best- when the original problem was 16" being not enough aperture ?  Perhaps if we keep discussing we can come to the conclusion that the Earth is actually flat ? 
Refractors are not immune to the laws of physical optics - a 9" scope can never be any more than a quality 9" 'scope. I have seen a stock commercial 10" Newt trounce a 7" Starfire refractor on Jupiter as any good 10" scope should . |
My experience is based on direct night after night side by side comparison from a light polluted commercial precinct in Canberra (The Trades Club) ie very similar to Observatory Hill (Not Wiruna) between a super high quality refractor with an equally super high quality and very expensive 16" F5 Newtonian. It is indeed very relevant to the discussion since we are talking here about potentially replacing a 16" scope, just as we had at the Canberra Observatory...aaand we essentially did replace the 16" and we replaced it with a 7" APO! simple
As I said and based on extensive experience at a
Public Observatory equipped with the some of the best scopes available including a C14 - for a public observatory in a heavily light polluted site a 7 -10" APO on a quality well known and therefore well supported mount, would be my 100% recommendation, without question
and although sporting a smaller aperture and therefore
dark sky abilities, to the lay person an equatorially mounted 8 or 10" refractor on a GEM will visually impress miiiiiiiles over a weird looking 20" Dob (that requires a ladder)
... and in spades!
Takahashi or Astrophyics mounts will be supported well into the foreseeable future I am sure.
Mike