How to double resolving power of an ETX90

On 27 Aug 2003 10:41:13 -0700, (justbeats)
wrote:

OK, it's flippant and may only apply to newbies like me - but the
answer is to observe the object through a bigger scope first so you
know what details are there to be seen. When you subsequently look
through the ETX (or any smaller scope) you can see more detail than if
you'd looked through the smaller scope alone. That's how it was for me
anyway.

Which leads me to the following (outrageous?) assertion:

Half (or more) of the competence of experienced observers is just
familiarity with the objects being observed! Perceiving subtle and
tiny features under varying seeing conditions *IS* a learned skill
(generalisation of similar things seen before) but it only partially
accounts for their increased ability over an inexperienced observer.

Or maybe I'm wrong?

Beats

Heavy work committments mean I'm an occasional observer. I did make
the effort to observe Mars last night, and had a beautiful night. It
was extremely transparent, but unfortunately, turbulent, so seeing was
indifferent. Strangely, in the intermittent intervals of reasonable
seeing, I got better detail through my ETX90 than through my f4 10"
Newt. Not surprisingly, M11 was much better through the big trombone,
than with the little 'un. Horses for courses?

Regards,

Arney

justbeats wrote:
Gerry Aitken wrote in message ...

with the power invested in me, I hereby anoint you as a knowledgeable
novice observer beginner. K.N.O.B

you are no longer a noob.


Gee, thanks Gerry. Not sure I'm going to advertise my new "title"
though - the last person I called a "knob" got quite upset about it
:-)

Maybe I'll wish I hadn't asked - but "noob"?

Cheers
Beats

Hehe, 'noob' is just another version of 'newbie'.

Cheers

Gerry

justbeats wrote:
Gerry Aitken wrote in message ...

with the power invested in me, I hereby anoint you as a knowledgeable
novice observer beginner. K.N.O.B

you are no longer a noob.


Gee, thanks Gerry. Not sure I'm going to advertise my new "title"
though - the last person I called a "knob" got quite upset about it
:-)

Maybe I'll wish I hadn't asked - but "noob"?

Cheers
Beats

Hehe, 'noob' is just another version of 'newbie'.

Cheers

Gerry

"username" e-mail@adress wrote in message ...
"Cousin Ricky" wrote in message
om...

One caveat: If you're expecting to see something, make sure you are
*really* seeing it, and not imagining it because you know it's there.

how?

That's where experience comes in. Wish i could come up with a concrete answer.


Clear skies!

--
------------------- Richard Callwood III --------------------
~ U.S. Virgin Islands ~ USDA zone 11 ~ 18.3N, 64.9W ~
~ eastern Massachusetts ~ USDA zone 6 (1992-95) ~
--------------- http://cac.uvi.edu/staff/rc3/ ---------------

"username" e-mail@adress wrote in message ...
"Cousin Ricky" wrote in message
om...

One caveat: If you're expecting to see something, make sure you are
*really* seeing it, and not imagining it because you know it's there.

how?

That's where experience comes in. Wish i could come up with a concrete answer.


Clear skies!

--
------------------- Richard Callwood III --------------------
~ U.S. Virgin Islands ~ USDA zone 11 ~ 18.3N, 64.9W ~
~ eastern Massachusetts ~ USDA zone 6 (1992-95) ~
--------------- http://cac.uvi.edu/staff/rc3/ ---------------