Have refractors hurt the hobby?

"Stephen Paul" wrote in
:

"RichA" wrote in message
...

So have the cheap refractors hurt or helped the hobby?

Without evidence to the contrary, I have to believe they help the
hobby more than they hurt it.

But I have equal credibility in claiming that without any evidence to the
contrary, I have to believe they hurt the hobby more than help it. g

"Paul Lawler" wrote in message
. 125.201...
"Stephen Paul" wrote in
:

"RichA" wrote in message
...

So have the cheap refractors hurt or helped the hobby?

Without evidence to the contrary, I have to believe they help the
hobby more than they hurt it.

But I have equal credibility in claiming that without any evidence to the
contrary, I have to believe they hurt the hobby more than help it. g

Belief is in the mind of the believer. ;-)

My interest was sparked by a 50mm spotting scope, pointed at the moon.

My entrance into the hobby was with a 70mm F11 refractor, which I sent back
within two weeks of the 30 day return period. I knew I could do better,
immediately.

But, those two scopes are still what got me going.

"John Steinberg" wrote

Howard "El Top Poster" Lester wrote:

Yeah, well, whaddyagonnado....

Entry level scopes - those of the seriously handicapped variety - can
affect the long term prospects of any would be astronomer, but
convincing a parent to instead spend $500+ on a telescope and suitable
accoutrements for their twelve-year old is going to be tougher than
selling bibles in Howie's House of ill Repute (that's just off Hwy 9 in
Tucson, kids. All major credit cards accepted.)

Open twentyfaw OW-iz.... Plenty of free pawking. I got a beauty-ful
telescope heah complete with mirror for only FAW DOLLIZ. How do we do it?
VOLUME!

"Howard Lester" wrote in message
...

"John Steinberg" wrote

Howard "El Top Poster" Lester wrote:

Yeah, well, whaddyagonnado....

Entry level scopes - those of the seriously handicapped variety - can
affect the long term prospects of any would be astronomer, but
convincing a parent to instead spend $500+ on a telescope and suitable
accoutrements for their twelve-year old is going to be tougher than
selling bibles in Howie's House of ill Repute (that's just off Hwy 9
in
Tucson, kids. All major credit cards accepted.)

Open twentyfaw OW-iz.... Plenty of free pawking. I got a beauty-ful
telescope heah complete with mirror for only FAW DOLLIZ. How do we do
it?
VOLUME!


Coarse yewz ony sellin it a PIECE at a time, raht???
--
Jan Owen

To reach me directly, remove the Z, if one appears in my e-mail address...
Latitude: 33.662
Longitude: -112.3272

"Jan Owen" wrote

Open twentyfaw OW-iz.... Plenty of free pawking. I got a beauty-ful
telescope heah complete with mirror for only FAW DOLLIZ. How do we do
it?
VOLUME!

Coarse yewz ony sellin it a PIECE at a time, raht???

No, Tex, that's fer the whole shootin' match. COME AWN DOWN!

"Howard Lester" wrote in message
...

"Jan Owen" wrote

Open twentyfaw OW-iz.... Plenty of free pawking. I got a beauty-ful
telescope heah complete with mirror for only FAW DOLLIZ. How do we
do
it?
VOLUME!

Coarse yewz ony sellin it a PIECE at a time, raht???

No, Tex, that's fer the whole shootin' match. COME AWN DOWN!


Nawww!

Dont dismember, now, it's FRIIIIIIIIIDAY!

Gotta git mah buns awn down tuh Arriba's fer some Hatch, New Mexico
chili-filled fixin's!!!

I'll shure taik yew uppon that deal sum udder tahm, thow...

--
Jan Owen

To reach me directly, remove the Z, if one appears in my e-mail address...
Latitude: 33.662
Longitude: -112.3272

RichA wrote in message . ..

...
The editor of Sky and Tel offers up the usual advise (which is good)
about trying educate people about bad versus good telescopes, but
amateurs are too few in number to influence the bulk of telescope
buyers who are looking generally for just another Christmas gift to
offer up and who don't put anymore thought into it than someone
buying a shirt for someone. In fact, someone is more likely to know
a good clothing brand than telescope.
...

People at work ask me about telescopes all the time.

I offer the same advice, to visit a place that knows
what they're talking about (we have two telescope
stores here in Vancouver), attend an astronomical
event to see for yourself, I've even offered my first
real scope (a 115mm Synta Newtonian which has decent
optics) so people could try it.

I haven't had one person take me up on any of these;
without exception they go to the local cheapo discount
store (Costco in this part of the world), buy a cheap,
lousy scope, have difficulty seeing anything at all
through it, wonder what all the fuss is about, and
give up.

Sad.

Laura Halliday VE7LDH "Que les nuages soient notre
Grid: CN89mg pied a terre..."
ICBM: 49 16.05 N 122 56.92 W - Hospital/Shafte

On Fri, 05 Nov 2004 16:58:59 +0000, Guy Macon
http://www.guymacon.com wrote:


How many years went by from the invention of the telescope to the
point where telescope quality became better than a cheap department
store telescope of the 21st century? How much real science was done
with this inferior equipment?

That was all they had to work with, and they (for the most part)
were adults. Today, there is very little "cheap science" possible.
Besides, were talking about a hobby.

On Fri, 05 Nov 2004 19:19:47 GMT, Chris L Peterson
wrote:

On Fri, 5 Nov 2004 12:47:18 -0500, "matt" wrote:

most kids are bored to death even by Hubble like images . They've seen on tv
so much scifi , animated or not, where galaxies, black holes, wormholes,
super power rangers etc all mix up in a simple 2 minute plot that for them
instant gratification on a grand scale is the only thing that works anymore...

Must be all those dumb little kids in Florida. No way living in a miserable
climate like that can result in anything but mental lethargy g.

There is a theory that the reason the Northern people advanced while
most Southern people's stagnated is because they had to or
freeze/starve.

(Jon Isaacs) wrote in message

snip

So, I hope that rather than dismissing these scopes as junk, each of you takes
a second look.
snip

Jon Isaacs

Excellent post Jon. Absolutly excellent.

Tom T.