Expensive, high-end scopes and mounts. Aimed at the rich, or the morons?

On Tuesday, 31 March 2015 18:41:03 UTC+2, Uncarollo2 wrote:

Maybe I'm eccentric since I love the views thru a long focus mirror. At F8 the field is essentially coma-free and with small obstruction the contrast can be very high.

I have yet to establish whether it is my generally poor seeing. Or whether the 10" F:8 improves on my 6" refractor. Which it certainly should do thanks to the greater aperture.

Months of overcast and then gales and biting cold, when it finally does clear, do not provide much chance of a true comparison.

Perhaps I should get into lunar/planetary imaging with the 10"?

Jan Fremery in Germany is producing astounding results with a 10" spar telescope of original design after great success with a series of folded spar refractors:

http://www.astro-vr.de/

Check out his amazing lunar and Jupiter images! The best I've seen so far.

On Wednesday, April 1, 2015 at 7:24:36 AM UTC-4, Martin Brown wrote:

Perhaps my experience was atypical but due to the space race there was
about a dozen lads and a keen observing section. Better still there was
an entire class of 30 from the girls school who were encouraged to come
by their physics teacher.

Well, that's very stylish!

"Chris.B" wrote:
On Tuesday, 31 March 2015 18:41:03 UTC+2, Uncarollo2 wrote:

Maybe I'm eccentric since I love the views thru a long focus mirror. At
F8 the field is essentially coma-free and with small obstruction the
contrast can be very high.

I have yet to establish whether it is my generally poor seeing. Or
whether the 10" F:8 improves on my 6" refractor. Which it certainly
should do thanks to the greater aperture.

Months of overcast and then gales and biting cold, when it finally does
clear, do not provide much chance of a true comparison.

Perhaps I should get into lunar/planetary imaging with the 10"?

Jan Fremery in Germany is producing astounding results with a 10" spar
telescope of original design after great success with a series of folded spar refractors:

http://www.astro-vr.de/

Check out his amazing lunar and Jupiter images! The best I've seen so far.

I have to agree. They are fantastic!

On Wednesday, April 1, 2015 at 3:35:01 PM UTC-5, Mike Collins wrote:
"Chris.B" wrote:
On Tuesday, 31 March 2015 18:41:03 UTC+2, Uncarollo2 wrote:

Maybe I'm eccentric since I love the views thru a long focus mirror. At
F8 the field is essentially coma-free and with small obstruction the
contrast can be very high.

I have yet to establish whether it is my generally poor seeing. Or
whether the 10" F:8 improves on my 6" refractor. Which it certainly
should do thanks to the greater aperture.

Months of overcast and then gales and biting cold, when it finally does
clear, do not provide much chance of a true comparison.

Perhaps I should get into lunar/planetary imaging with the 10"?

Jan Fremery in Germany is producing astounding results with a 10" spar
telescope of original design after great success with a series of folded spar refractors:

http://www.astro-vr.de/

Check out his amazing lunar and Jupiter images! The best I've seen so far.

I have to agree. They are fantastic!

http://astro.christone.net/jupiter/

Uncarollo2 wrote:
On Wednesday, April 1, 2015 at 3:35:01 PM UTC-5, Mike Collins wrote:
"Chris.B" wrote:
On Tuesday, 31 March 2015 18:41:03 UTC+2, Uncarollo2 wrote:

Maybe I'm eccentric since I love the views thru a long focus mirror. At
F8 the field is essentially coma-free and with small obstruction the
contrast can be very high.

I have yet to establish whether it is my generally poor seeing. Or
whether the 10" F:8 improves on my 6" refractor. Which it certainly
should do thanks to the greater aperture.

Months of overcast and then gales and biting cold, when it finally does
clear, do not provide much chance of a true comparison.

Perhaps I should get into lunar/planetary imaging with the 10"?

Jan Fremery in Germany is producing astounding results with a 10" spar
telescope of original design after great success with a series of folded spar refractors:

http://www.astro-vr.de/

Check out his amazing lunar and Jupiter images! The best I've seen so far.

I have to agree. They are fantastic!

http://astro.christone.net/jupiter/

These are also fantastic. Pity he doesn't do more of the moon.

On Wednesday, 1 April 2015 23:10:01 UTC+2, Uncarollo2 wrote:

http://astro.christone.net/jupiter/

Superb images with remarkable scale but I feel his lunar pics aren't quite as natural and sharp as Jan's.
It's a thin but important line between "empty magnification" and a real sense of lunar vertigo.

Not that we want to get into competitive image comparisons.
That might lead to even better results.
All very inspiring though! :ø))

On Wednesday, April 1, 2015 at 12:27:59 PM UTC-4, Chris.B wrote:

I have yet to establish whether it is my generally poor seeing. Or whether the
10" F:8 improves on my 6" refractor. Which it certainly should do thanks to the
greater aperture.

Months of overcast and then gales and biting cold, when it finally does clear,
do not provide much chance of a true comparison.

You can use terrestrial objects for a side-by-side comparison. Pick a low contrast object some distance away, perhaps 1000 feet or more, and do your comparisons just after sunrise. Unless its optics are bad or misaligned the 10-inch should win decisively.

On Thursday, 2 April 2015 14:19:37 UTC+2, wrote:

You can use terrestrial objects for a side-by-side comparison. Pick a low contrast object some distance away, perhaps 1000 feet or more, and do your comparisons just after sunrise. Unless its optics are bad or misaligned the 10-inch should win decisively.

True. I used to test my telescopes on climbers on the mountains up to ten miles away. But no longer have any mountains. Nor even a distant view where I live now. Too many hedges and trees in the way. Ideally I need an observing platform about 8' high which would give me more a 200 degrees clear view from NE to W. First I have to fell a 50' tall Birch tree to make room for the platform. If I get it wrong I'll wreck the house or crush my workshop! Hence my trepidation and ensuing procrastination.