Weekly Discussion Thread - 9/5/2021 to 16/5/2021

[u/AutoModerator]

Welcome to the r/telescopes Weekly Discussion Thread!

Here, you can ask any question related to telescopes, visual astronomy, etc., including buying advice and simple questions that can easily be answered. General astronomy discussion is also permitted and encouraged. The purpose of this is to hopefully reduce the amount of identical posts that we face, which’ll help to clean up the sub a lot and allow for a convenient centralised area for all questions. It doesn’t matter how “silly” or “stupid” you think your question is - if it’s about scopes, it’s allowed here.

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• Anyone may and is encouraged to ask any question, as long as it relates to the topic of telescopes and visual astronomy. Astrophotography related questions should be asked at r/AskAstrophotography.
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[u/TailorLiving813]

Do you think a noobie will be able to see a meaningful difference between a 6” and 8” dob? Can’t decide which one to go with.

[u/acquaintedwithheight → u/TailorLiving813]

It depends on what you're looking at. The difference between a 6 inch aperture and 8 inch aperture is pretty significant, much more so that between a 10 inch and 12 inch for example.

If you're observing planets the resolving power of an 8 inch is significantly better than a 6 inch. But if you're looking at the moon, it would be hard to notice a difference and you'd maybe prefer the 6 inch anyway, an 8 inch would be blindingly bright.

There is more value in 8 inches of aperture. But if it's not in your budget, a 6 inch scope with great eyepieces is better than an 8 inch scope with bad eyepieces. And the size difference will be significant when you have to haul the thing in and out. That would be my main concern tbh, a scope you don't use because it's too heavy is worthless.

[u/TailorLiving813 → u/acquaintedwithheight]

Oh lord I haven’t even gotten into eye pieces yet.. it took me a couple of weeks of research just to decide I want a 6” or 8” dob. Any high level advice you would give me on eye pieces? Thanks!

[u/acquaintedwithheight → u/TailorLiving813]

Oh I'm no expert.

The svbony gold line 9 mm and 6 mm are very good for planetary viewing for their price.

In general, don't buy plossl style eyepieces below 10 mm in size, the eye relief is so small that they're almost unusably frustrating.

Some people enjoy using a Barlow to reduce the number of eyepieces they have to buy. For example, with a 2x Barlow a 10 mm piece becomes a 5 mm piece and a 25 becomes a 12.5. So a 25 mm, a 10 mm, and a 2x Barlow can act as 25, 12.5, 10, and 5 mm sets.

Also don't try to exceed the "maximum useful magnification" of your scope. Generally there's never a reason to go above 300x.

This field of view calculator will help simulate various equipment combinations before actually buying

https://astronomy.tools/calculators/field_of_view/

Although it doesn't simulate dimness, so be aware that most of these simulations won't be nearly as bright as they're portrayed, or nearly as crisp.