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Old August 23rd 17, 09:01 AM posted to sci.astro.amateur
Martin Brown[_3_]
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Default Spotting scopes for astronomy?

On 23/08/2017 08:24, StarDust wrote:
Any one tried to use spotting scope for astronomy?
Does it work?


Some of the ones favoured by birders can be quite good. The Aldi/Lidl UK
chains sometimes have quite passable 80mm spotting scopes for around the
£100 mark that are not at all bad for the price.

Some can be very expensive too, few grand or so!
If it works, what's the cons and pros using it?


Only snag is they are optimised for looking at the horizon or a few
degrees off it so you tend to get a crick in the neck. They are unlikely
to be truly diffraction limited but they are not all that far off.

Now that 1:3 zoom eyepiece designs are so well optimised I think they
are not such a bad choice as a general purpose scope.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown