DSO observation 6" & 8" Newt comparison

[astroboyz]

Hi Raymo,

wow, those images are impressive without autoguider and LP filter (and I suppose without coma corrector as well) !!! :-)
Have you tried drift alignment ..... I read someone from the forum said they could manage up to 300 - 400 second exposure.

[raymo]

We seem to be hijacking this thread, so I'll close this discussion by saying
that I'm pushing 80, and I'm finding repeatedly setting up my gear and
PAing a pain in the rear end, so I just tailor my exposure times to how
well I've PAd on the night. Best I've managed so far is 160secs. I can't
afford a coma corrector; trying to get other aspects of AP right before
worrying about coma. In the meantime I crop the worst of it out.
I used to drift align years ago, but can't be bothered now.
raymo

[Camelopardalis (Dunk)]

raymo's images are pretty inspiring to a beginner imager like me. I don't expect I'll ever take large numbers of subs of a single object to get results like the pros but never say never

Visually, I feel 8" is a sweet spot...enough aperture for globs and brighter nebs to be interesting, but relatively compact and portable. Larger aperture is often better in this game, but it comes at a price, literally and physically the scopes get larger and heavier quickly (and/or much pricier!), so be sure to go see one before you buy.

One thing to understand is that a good visual scope is not necessarily a good imaging scope, and vice versa. Visually alone, it is tricky enough to find the right balance and many of us have more than one scope

[raymo]

I quite agree, 8" is a great size scope for both AP & visual, especially if
budget constraints prevent the purchase of an APO refractor. In any case,
the long exposures necessary due to my 80mm Achro's low light gathering ability irritate the ---- out of me.
raymo