Re: Uti telescopes, expensive??

Hi, Tony,
You have no doubt considered the Stargazer Steve 6 inch f5 truss tuve Dob, with 2 inch focuser and eyepieces, at a cost of $500? It's reputation is good and it is designed to be taken apart for travel.
Ciao,
Bill Meyers

tony_flanders@xxxxxxxxx wrote: 
Szaki wrote:


Why would some one spend $2000 for a 6" f/5 Newt telescope,
when a  4" APO can cost less than that?



I've been thinking of buying, building, or commissioning a 6"
truss-tube Dob for some time now. My current biggest airline-
portable scope is a 100mm achromat, and it's not a bad scope
at all. It's not in the same league as an APO for lunar or
planetary work, but it takes a keen eye to discern the
difference for typical deep-sky observing. However, 100mm
is still only 100mm.

I recently had the opportunity to compare my 100mm achromat
side-by-side with a home-built 6" truss-tube Dob. There's
simply no comparison -- none at all. For any given aperture,
refractors are indisputably better than Newtonians, but that
difference pales in comparison with the fact that the 6"
gathers 2.25 times as much light. Viewing the Trio in Leo
under suburban skies, I could see all three galaxies in my
100mm scope, but NGC 3628 was just a pale ghost, and the
two Messier galaxies didn't show much in the way of detail.
Through the 6" scope, all three galaxies had a crispness and
punch that was sorely lacking in the smaller scope, and the
intricate structure of M66 was beginning to show through,
despite the lit-up skies.

As for the price, it's certainly high. But first-class mirrors
don't come cheap, nor do top-notch focusers. It's worth spending
$2000 for a great scope regardless of its aperture. I have no
idea whether this particular scope qualifies, having never seen
one in the flesh.

    - Tony Flanders


.

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