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Hi, just getting into this hobby and amazed by the amount of kit which is available. I have a f5 refractor 102mm aperture and was considering getting larger aperture reflector as an alternative. The Skywatcher 200 dobsonion seems to have many fans here but i noticed it's also a pretty fast scope. Chances are i'm not going to do a lot of imaging so should i avoid 2 fast scopes (regardless of the difference in size)?

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Being a dob even placed on an equatorial tracking platform you will be hard pushed to do much in the way of imaging, although I have seen some good tracked and untracked Lunar images but its not going to open the heavens up in this way to you.  Even with a tracking platform your exposures will be limited to quite narrow time periods (there are some good planetary stuff been done for example).  

It is a scope geared very much towards visual use and this is what it will excel at.  Easy set up, no alignment, point it and look.  Personally I would go for the 250 (10 inch) as it offers a set up that remains easy for one person with enough light grasp to keep you interested for a long while.  I just feel that an 8 inch primary will always induce aperture fever to 12 inches and then you are in the realms of breaking your back.  A 10 inch will offer you just enough back pain to not get aperture fever as readily. 

I am not the man to offer you any advice on imaging that is for others on the forum, but if its about a red torch, atlas & eye to glass then fire away :) 

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Isn't the 10" faster than the 12"?

Its something I have considered, an upgrade to the 12".

You are right. The Skywatcher 250PX is an F/4.7 which is considered quite fast. I don't consider the 200P dob that fast at F/5.9.

Newtonians tend to get faster (with a few exceptions) as the aperture gets larger otherwise the scopes would be huge. Imagine a 12" F/8 - it would need a ladder to reach the eyepiece much of the time !.

To stafftop: the 200P dobsonian is about the most recommended and most popular scope on this forum which I reckon means that it's considered quite useable :smiley:

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I wouldn't expect you to do much imaging with a Dob though some lunar/planetary is possible, as stated above.  On a Dob a fast F ratio is highly desirable because a scope with a shorter focal length can work at lower magnification and, critically, offer a wider field of view than one with a long FL. This means less 'nudging' as you track an object. 

Olly

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Being a dob even placed on an equatorial tracking platform you will be hard pushed to do much in the way of imaging, although I have seen some good tracked and untracked Lunar images but its not going to open the heavens up in this way to you.  Even with a tracking platform your exposures will be limited to quite narrow time periods (there are some good planetary stuff been done for example).  

It is a scope geared very much towards visual use and this is what it will excel at.  Easy set up, no alignment, point it and look.  Personally I would go for the 250 (10 inch) as it offers a set up that remains easy for one person with enough light grasp to keep you interested for a long while.  I just feel that an 8 inch primary will always induce aperture fever to 12 inches and then you are in the realms of breaking your back.  A 10 inch will offer you just enough back pain to not get aperture fever as readily. 

I am not the man to offer you any advice on imaging that is for others on the forum, but if its about a red torch, atlas & eye to glass then fire away :)

I bought an 8" dob.  Caught aperture fever and bought a 12" .  Its big!  Glad I bought them though.  No bigger, or will need a team of people to help with transport!!

Mark

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