the refractor craze??

On Sat, 20 Nov 2004 16:31:08 GMT, "Juan Calculus"
wrote:

Now getting back into the astro hobby after a few years recess, I've noticed
a trend towards refractors. I visited a local SP a few weeks ago and I'll
bet close to 70% of the scopes there were refractors. I'm curious as to
what's caused this trend or shift as when I was active in the past, close to
15 years ago, the "light bucket" Dobsonian seemed to be the favorite at star
parties. How does a refractor, which I seldom see in apertures greater
than 100mm due to expense, compare with a light bucket Dob or reflector? It
certainly can't be DSO's as an 18" Dob would win that battle hands down. I
would also think that the larger reflector would be the winner for planets
too, especially if it has a good mirror. So, what is the appeal?
Portability, but what else? There must be something I'm missing regarding
their appeal especially when you compare the cost per aperture differences
between refractors and other scopes.

Thanks,
Juan


The Dob is still the largest selling scope for committed amateurs.
This factors out the people who buy crap refractors from dept.
stores for Johnny for a last-minute gift.
-Rich

Rich, if Jonny didnt get this crap refractor he would probably never
get anything (astronomical) and would never know anything! After the
ballgame to day I heard one drunk say to another: "Hey. &^R%$#it,
my $&(&(^en wife got me a telescope!" to which the other replied:
"Where the %$#K did she get it!?" ....... "At KMart of course!".
"What the hell are you gonna do with it" ......... laughter ......... "Well I
sure as hellaint gonna bring it to the ballgames to look at you. **** I wanna
see the Moon. I here the Lottos goin up there".

I rest my casette.

Mark, llp








RichA wrote:

On Sat, 20 Nov 2004 16:31:08 GMT, "Juan Calculus"
wrote:

Now getting back into the astro hobby after a few years recess, I've noticed
a trend towards refractors. I visited a local SP a few weeks ago and I'll
bet close to 70% of the scopes there were refractors. I'm curious as to
what's caused this trend or shift as when I was active in the past, close to
15 years ago, the "light bucket" Dobsonian seemed to be the favorite at star
parties. How does a refractor, which I seldom see in apertures greater
than 100mm due to expense, compare with a light bucket Dob or reflector? It
certainly can't be DSO's as an 18" Dob would win that battle hands down. I
would also think that the larger reflector would be the winner for planets
too, especially if it has a good mirror. So, what is the appeal?
Portability, but what else? There must be something I'm missing regarding
their appeal especially when you compare the cost per aperture differences
between refractors and other scopes.

Thanks,
Juan


The Dob is still the largest selling scope for committed amateurs.
This factors out the people who buy crap refractors from dept.
stores for Johnny for a last-minute gift.
-Rich

"Juan Calculus" wrote in message
ink.net...
Now getting back into the astro hobby after a few years recess, I've
noticed
a trend towards refractors. I visited a local SP a few weeks ago and I'll
bet close to 70% of the scopes there were refractors. I'm curious as to
what's caused this trend or shift as when I was active in the past, close
to
15 years ago, the "light bucket" Dobsonian seemed to be the favorite at
star
parties. How does a refractor, which I seldom see in apertures greater
than 100mm due to expense, compare with a light bucket Dob or reflector?
It
certainly can't be DSO's as an 18" Dob would win that battle hands down.
I
would also think that the larger reflector would be the winner for planets
too, especially if it has a good mirror. So, what is the appeal?
Portability, but what else? There must be something I'm missing regarding
their appeal especially when you compare the cost per aperture differences
between refractors and other scopes.

Juan,

Just like other folks have different hobbies, people approach astronomy
differently. There are folks who like as much aperture as possible, and
there are other folks, who are also serious observers, who are quite happy
with modest apertures. The local club holds many public star parties, and
has an active group of observers who use our dark sky sight on a regular
basis. Some have Dobs of varying sizes, some have SCTs from 8" to 14", and
some have modest refractors. They are all enjoying what they do, and having
a good time under the stars. Indeed, I have been surprised and enlightened
by the number of folks who started years ago with a modest aperture and
never found a reason to move to a larger scope. We have telescopes from a
90mm APO up to a 15" Dob, and my wife could be quite happy with any one of
them on a clear night.

Today's amateur astronomers are fortunate in having such a vast array of
telescopes to choose from, and so many different ways to approach the hobby.
Amateur astronomers just have to decide is what approach makes them happy.

My last two trips outside under clear skies were with a lawn chair. Once
for a beautiful display of northern lights, and once to prowl around with
binoculars.

Clear skies, Alan

Thanks to all for your responses. Someone asked if the star party I
attended was a spur of the moment occasion and indeed it was so I could have
been mislead. However, there were a lot of refractors there. I seem to
remember seeing "Orion" on most- if it's the same firm I'm thinking of,
about the only thing I remember buying from them were eyepieces in the late
1980's or early 90's, so they must have grown quite a bit since that time.

Browsing around the web and through Astronomy and other magazines, I do
notice these ED and semi-APOs going for excellent prices, especially
compared to when I left off in about 1990 or so. I also see a large
increase in imports from mostly China(?) which makes me wonder what's going
on there- are they producing lenses at lower cost?

In the 80's or 90's, I wouldn't have even considered a refractor due to
cost. Now, however, it does seem a possibility. As I mentioned in another
post, I do have an ETX-90 and a C-8 but tests showed that the C-8 had 1/2
wave SA so pretty bad images. I guess I still have a bias when I think of
the days when SCT's were considered bad- have they been improved? The ETX,
for the cost, has proven a very capable scope with excellent optics and I
have been well pleased.

Thanks for the numerous opinions above!

Juan

"Juan Calculus" wrote in message
ink.net...
Now getting back into the astro hobby after a few years recess, I've
noticed
a trend towards refractors. I visited a local SP a few weeks ago and I'll
bet close to 70% of the scopes there were refractors. I'm curious as to
what's caused this trend or shift as when I was active in the past, close
to
15 years ago, the "light bucket" Dobsonian seemed to be the favorite at
star
parties. How does a refractor, which I seldom see in apertures greater
than 100mm due to expense, compare with a light bucket Dob or reflector?
It
certainly can't be DSO's as an 18" Dob would win that battle hands down.
I
would also think that the larger reflector would be the winner for planets
too, especially if it has a good mirror. So, what is the appeal?
Portability, but what else? There must be something I'm missing regarding
their appeal especially when you compare the cost per aperture differences
between refractors and other scopes.

Thanks,
Juan

hi,

My best DSO scope... a 17.5 " dob, it can't beat it for visual use
(planets excepted) with anything else I have

My best travel scope ... 6" f10 mak-cas on a Unistar deluxe mount and
tripod .. enough aperture to see lots of stuff, the ota is carry-on in
its soft case, the tripod goes with the luggage.

My best wide FOV scope a 4" apo ... 5 degree FOV with a 35mm Panoptic
...very very portable but really not any more then the 6" mak-cas. It
cools faster..but that's an issue that's easy to deal with.

My best set of optics... a 6" Mak-newt with quartz optics, tested at
1/11 wave, 19 % cnetral obstruction and does a hair better then a 5"
apo and a hair worse then a 6" apo visually.

My best all around, can do a lot but not anything the best, best bang
for the buck scope (cost was $350) , a 8" orange tube C8 ota with
great optics.


The apos are the very best imaging scopes for their respective focal
lengths.. for imaging of nebulas and large DSO's they can't be beat.
However for imaging of smaller DSO's such as galaxies and planetary
nebulas a larger aperture longer FL scope such as a Mak-Cas, SCT,
Dahl-Kirkham or RC scope is much better due to its increased
resolution and light grasp.

So IMHO, having learned from experience, there is no one best all
around scope.

clear skies,


Larry Citro









"Juan Calculus" wrote in message link.net...
Now getting back into the astro hobby after a few years recess, I've noticed
a trend towards refractors. I visited a local SP a few weeks ago and I'll
bet close to 70% of the scopes there were refractors. I'm curious as to
what's caused this trend or shift as when I was active in the past, close to
15 years ago, the "light bucket" Dobsonian seemed to be the favorite at star
parties. How does a refractor, which I seldom see in apertures greater
than 100mm due to expense, compare with a light bucket Dob or reflector? It
certainly can't be DSO's as an 18" Dob would win that battle hands down. I
would also think that the larger reflector would be the winner for planets
too, especially if it has a good mirror. So, what is the appeal?
Portability, but what else? There must be something I'm missing regarding
their appeal especially when you compare the cost per aperture differences
between refractors and other scopes.

Thanks,
Juan

The perfect scope is one you use.

"Juan Calculus" wrote in message
ink.net...
Now getting back into the astro hobby after a few years recess, I've
noticed
a trend towards refractors. I visited a local SP a few weeks ago and I'll
bet close to 70% of the scopes there were refractors. I'm curious as to
what's caused this trend or shift as when I was active in the past, close
to
15 years ago, the "light bucket" Dobsonian seemed to be the favorite at
star
parties. How does a refractor, which I seldom see in apertures greater
than 100mm due to expense, compare with a light bucket Dob or reflector?
It
certainly can't be DSO's as an 18" Dob would win that battle hands down.
I
would also think that the larger reflector would be the winner for planets
too, especially if it has a good mirror. So, what is the appeal?
Portability, but what else? There must be something I'm missing regarding
their appeal especially when you compare the cost per aperture differences
between refractors and other scopes.

Thanks,
Juan

My wife has made clear her preference that I own refractors over motorcycles.
Worst case scenario in the back yard is I trip and fall on a porcupine in the
dark.

Yeah but if you're riding a motorcycle statistics show you are about 23 times
more likely to end up visiting the heavens rather than observing em....

'taint so funny...

jon

Top posting

rat
~( );

email: remove 'et' from .com(et) in above email address