Hi shlunko.
Yes you have pressed all the right keys and buttons! Welcome.
Let me start the ball rolling with a few answers:-
If you search back through threads in the last several months, you'll find discussions around reflecting scopes, sizes, transport, handling, use for astrophotography.
If your wallet cannot extend to a new scope, do look at the second hand scopes on offer on IceTrade Classifieds - they have been some seeming bargains. Being in Melbourne, you are likely to be able to go and look at and test before you buy.
I cannot remember magnitudes, but if you look at the Bintel site and probably the Andrews site, the specifications are usually given, including limiting magnitutes.
Lots of people are very happy pushing around a reflector on a dobsonian mount. It is very intuitive and, if the bearings are any good, quite easy to do.
Locating objects in an 8" or 10" reflector on dobsonian - you can invest a further approx $1,000 in an Argo Navis pointing computer and it becomes a breeze and little knowledge of the sky or charts is needed. Without that, it depends on how effectively you can use the supplied finderscope (which works quite well when properly aligned), or you fit a "red dot" finder such as a telrad. Another approach is to use a laser pointer, mounted on and aligned with the scope, to point the scope at the desired object.
How quickly an object moves through the field of view depends, of course, on the selction of eyepiece. In general, at around the 20-30mm eyepiece range, the movement is slow. At 10mm and below, it starts to become noticeable. In the rare conditions that you might be down around 3mm equivalent (a barlowed eyepiece looking at Jupiter, Saturn, the Moon), then we are talking the order of 10-15 seconds across the FOV. No problem for a single observer, but it can be a challenge if you are trying to show less experienced people. By the time they get settled in front of the eyepiece, the object may be marching out of the FOV.
Quote:
Originally Posted by shlunko
Hi,
This is my first thread thingy (having just created an account yesterday) so I'm not entierly sure if I will clicked the right buttons or not and what will be the final result.
Anyways, I currently have 2 relatively small reflectors (114mm and 130mm and 1 quite old refractor (60 mm) and I was thinking about getting either an 8" or a 10" (If my wallet will be big enough) new Dobsonian, probably Sky Watcher brand). I was curious if anyone knows a bit about them if you could help me out a bit.
If anyone knows the answers to any of these it would be much appreciated.
.What magnitude would be visible through either the 8" or 10"?
.What sort of quality would be given for astrophotography?
.How long would a planet such as Jupiter stay in the field of view in the eye piece?
.If a CCD webcam was attached would it pick up any decent quality?
.Would it be worth getting a Dobsonian that doesn't have a motor drive in it to so it is used manually?
.What sort of difficulty is there in locating Nebulae, Galaxies, stars etc. with a Dobsonian of 8 or 10"?
It is much appreciated, thanks in advance.
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