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Had to choose between a 10-inch dob and a 6-inch refractor for my first real scope
Honestly, I was stuck on this for like two weeks. Ended up going with the 10-inch dob because everyone said it collects way more light, and man they were right. Saw the Orion Nebula with real detail on my third night out in my backyard. Has anyone else made this choice and regretted it?
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henry_moore5528d ago
Jumped in with the same choice a few years back and honestly I gotta correct something you said... it's not just about light collection. The 10-inch dob shows you detail that a 6-inch refractor could never touch on most deep sky stuff. I've spent hours on the Veil Nebula with an OIII filter and it's like a ghostly ribbon floating in space. But you really gotta be careful about the dob's size - I almost threw my back out hauling it down a flight of stairs one time. The refractor would've been easier to grab and go but the dob wins every time on those faint fuzzies.
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daniel55228d ago
My buddy kevin got a 12-inch dob last summer and we set it up in his backyard for a Saturn viewing party. Thing was so massive we had to use a dolly to roll it out of his garage. The view was killer though, we could see the Cassini division clear as day and even a couple of its moons. But then a gust of wind hit and the whole tube started wobbling like crazy, took us ten minutes to get it steady again. Sometimes I think these big dobs are more like workout equipment than telescopes.
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