Re: Have refractors hurt the hobby?
From: Hilton (no_email_at_earthlink.net)
Date: 11/06/04
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Date: Sat, 06 Nov 2004 11:54:57 GMT
----- Original Message -----
From: "RichA" <none@none.com>
Newsgroups: sci.astro.amateur
Sent: Friday, November 05, 2004 12:18 AM
Subject: Have refractors hurt the hobby?
> In the Dec. issue, the editor of Sky and Tel in December discusses
> Christmas present telescopes. He of course makes mention of the junk
> scopes, the 60mm 525x refractors and 76mm reflectors that are
> mechanically and optically (usually by their eyepieces) challenged and
> that they do more to turn people off the hobby than turn them on.
Full disclosure: I have not had a chance to read the column.
I don't necessarily buy the premise. Take any hobby and I bet 90%
of initiators don't make it a lifelong. Buy a kid a musical instrument
and see
how long he sticks with it. How many 50 year old kids are kicking
themselves today as
they see an equivalent to their baseball card collection selling for
thousands on Ebay.
The enthusiasts in this newsgroup are an exception.
I would even argue that just because someone buys an astronomical
telescope
does not make them a future amateur astronomer. Most of these Xmas
presents, including
telescopes can, be lumped in with any other kid's toy that becomes a
dust collector. At age 9 I started
with a 50mm Woolworth kiddie Xmas scope that showed me lunar seas and
craters.
I loved it. That didn't make me an amateur astronomer but it did
imprint my interest.
I suspect if I looked through that scope today I would find it an
embarrassment.
> I used to have the view that if someone couldn't maintain their
> interest enough to "live" with a 60mm for a few years until they
> sought out something better, maybe they didn't deserve to be in the
> hobby, that their interest was not genuine.
That could be true. In my teens I milked a 60mm scope with those crummy
Kellners
for several years until I could afford an RV-6. That was in the 60's.
However, this
department store scope was well enough made so that it gave descent
views of the
major planets including Mars at opposition. What got me truly engaged
and eventually
led me to buying the RV-6 was reading amateur astronomy related books
and magazines.
Thank you NYPL. Armed with knowledge of my scope' limitations I was not
disappointed
I could not see faint fuzzies under light polluted Bronx skies.
>But, after having
> watched the behaviour of amateurs over the past 35 years, I realize
> that some (more now than before) come into the hobby and can be
> turned off by bad equipment. Whether they "deserve" to be in the
> hobby is purely a judgment call on people's part.
The one guy that stands out in my mind was a colleague with
a 1980's vintage C8. He quit the hobby because he didn't want to
be bothered setting up, aligning and maintaining his scope. His original
motivation
for taking up the hobby was toy fever. I suspect that for lots of
amateurs
the challenge of setting up, aligning and maintaining is part of the
fun.
>
> So have the cheap refractors hurt or helped the hobby?
For the department store scopes I doubt they are a factor. They'r toys.
OTOH I imagine those inexpensive Chinese refractors can be a plus; at
least that what I gather from mostly positive comments I've read
from users.
Hilton Evans
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- Next message: Jon Isaacs: "Re: Opinion on Celestron xCel eyepiece"
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