Orion SkyQuest XT10 Classic 10" Dobsonian R5,252.00. Yay or nay? I've got about R5 000 to spend and don't know which one to choose. A guy at work recommends Mead telescopes but looking at the prices, is it worth the premium? I read somewhere that a very good quality 8" can outperform 10" and the Dobsonans look very large and bulkiy, is there any other models that have similar performance with better portability?
I'm not expecting hubble quality and I'm also not looking for a low end to medium model as I know I will lose interest very quicky if I can only see planets as a small blob. What can I expect from a 10"?
Newbie
That's the exact same scope I've got. It's definitely worth the price. It is quite bulky, but once you get the hang of how to carry it, it's not a problem to move around. Basically you need two trips... one for the base and the other for the OTA (Optical Tube). I'm not the strongest of persons and I'm relatively short, but I'm able to handle it easily.
As for what you can see with the scope, it's pretty much good for everything. It is good on planetary views, and the large aperture (10") allows you to go fro deep sky objects as well.
You can clearly see Saturn and it's rings (looks around pea sized at 48x and almost like a 10c coin at 120x). With Jupiter you can clearly see the red cloud bands around the equator and if you are lucky even the GRS. With Mars and Venus you can see the planetary disc, but not much detail, but that's more than likely just due to them being pretty low, and Mars being quite far away from earth.
Star clusters are the real beauties in the scope. In most of them you can resolve individual stars quite easily and see even the faint ones easily. Nebulae are a bit more difficult because you need very dark skies to get the most from them. They appear like little clouds of mist. I've taken a look at quite a few and they are nice with averted vision.
Galaxies are very faint (for the most part). In most cases you'll only be able to see "smudges" with bright cores.
An important point is to realize that you
won't get picture quality images when observing. The only things that show color are the planets and some stars. Nebulae and galaxies won't show any color and your eyes won't be able to pick up nearly the same amount of detail as a camera can.
Also with the dobsonian you'll have to learn the night sky and learn how to star hop. This can be frustrating at times, so if you think you won't be up for it then look at something else. The scope also don't track objects. You have to move it manually both up and down and left to right. At high magnifications objects can move out of view very quickly, so keep that in mind.
The scope will also need to be collimated (align the secondary and primary) on a regular basis. It's pretty hands-on and can be daunting at first.
You won't find any other telescope that gives you the same amount of aperture for the price. Most other amateur astronomers agree that the 10" is the best mid-range scope you can get while still being portable enough. The difference between the 8" and 10" is well worth the extra money, since the 10" gathers much more light.
My advice to you would be the following:
Wait before you buy the telescope. Get a good pair of binoculars first. Go to
www.starmaps.com and download their latest star map. Go out and observe all the naked eye and binocular objects. This should give you an idea what star hopping is all about and will allow you to learn some of the constellations.
Try to find someone with a telescope in your area and get a view through the scope so you'll know what to expect. Most people think they'll get similar views to astro photo's, but that's rarely the case. Mainly because most astro photos are post processed, false color is added and the camera gets much more exposure time to capture the details.
Once you have done both of those and still feel that the astronomy thing is for you... get a telescope and enjoy the skies to your heart's content.
Visual astronomy is partly about the actual views, and partly about using your imagination and knowledge about the object you are observing. The difference between a astronomy "geek" and a normal person is this:
A normal person will look at a globular cluster and see a fuzzy round patch. Perhaps utter something like "interesting" and walk away from the scope to go watch TV.
Us astronomy geeks will see the globular cluster, estimate it's size. Try to resolve individual stars, look at the difference between brightness of the inner and outer areas, and look for distinctive stars in the cluster and the surrounding area. All of that while contemplating the fact that the photons striking your eyes traveled around 18 000 light years to get to you, that the stars in the globular are as billions of years old and that the "fuzzy patch" houses around 10 million stars, many of which might not even exist anymore.
If you fall in the latter group then it's definitely worth getting a scope of your own. Welcome to the dark side!
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