How soon for aperture fever?

[Bart]

Hi all,

i recently bought my first telescope (Jan) which was a 6" newtonian. I was somewhat underwhelmed at some DSOs, delighted to find them but dissapointed with detail. Recently found myself on FLO eyeing up some 10" or 12" Dobs, is this a natural urge that should be resisted?

Bart

[spaceboy]

While I'm all for a big newt I would recommend you take a ride out to a dark site before you start laying out large sums of cash. Under dark skies you will get a better feel for the improvement a larger scope will give. Even a 6" scope will perform well under ideal conditions and plus you have the portability of the smaller size. If you already live under dark skies then you'd better get saving for that 12" dob

SPACEBOY

[david o]

Bart,

Aperture fever seems to be an occupational hazard of star-gazing, I guess it bites us all sooner or later.

In my case it took about nine months, now my 3" 'frac is kept company by a 7" Mak

But, in all seriousness, I'd second spaceboy's advice. Also try to get to see one in the flesh before you buy and try it out for size, weight and portability - you'd be surprised.

HTH

[stolenfeather]

Resist? Resistance is futile!

Isabelle

[mark7331]

Nothing wrong with a bit of aperture fever. It can be a little worrying, however, when you start seeing a 12" newt as small

I went from a 6" SCT, which I thought gave wonderful views, to a 12" newt which blew me away so I guess the fever is there for a reason.

Otherwise I completely agree with Isabelle.

[Revs]

Aperture fever? FEED IT

David Lukehurst - Large Portable Dobsonian Dobson Dobsons Telescopes - Index

om nom nom nom

[twotter]

I must be odd. Aperture fever doesn't grab me anything like the urge to get a goto mount

[Slangers]

Within a couple of weeks of buying any of my scopes, I have always developed a combined aperture-mount-accessories fever. I think it goes with the hobby and is reinforced by the fact that all astronomy magazines etc, are littered with glossy adverts for sumptious bits of kit.

At the end of the day it's each to their own. Now that my budget has been blown away I am content with tracking down DSOs (soooo hard with my goto) and thinking wow. They may be grey smudges in the EP, but it is amazing that I can see them at all.

[F15Rules]

To pick up on Isabelle's Borg them, resistance IS futile, and now that you are an astronomer with your own (paltry:p:p) 6" scope (same size as my biggest!), you will be assimilated into the Collective...which means you will NEVER stop wanting a larger scope!

Locutus of Borg:D

[bish]

While I'm all for a big newt I would recommend you take a ride out to a dark site before you start laying out large sums of cash. Under dark skies you will get a better feel for the improvement a larger scope will give. Even a 6" scope will perform well under ideal conditions and plus you have the portability of the smaller size. If you already live under dark skies then you'd better get saving for that 12" dob

SPACEBOY

Good advice. Until you've been to a dark site then you don't know what the scope is capable of. I was happy with my 6" newt for a couple of years, mainly from my light polluted location but also I took it to kielder 3 times and other dark sites. It was when I had exhausted everything I could out of the scope that I wanted to move on.

I think if you upgrade too soon you may never scratch the itch, ie get a 12" and want a 16" etc.

That's just my experience, nothing wrong in going big if you've got the cash and the space. I think that once it starts to play on you mind it's very difficult to get it out. I had a cheap 60mm frac as a kid so owning a 6" newt was great - for a while...

[stolenfeather]

To pick up on Isabelle's Borg them, resistance IS futile, and now that you are an astronomer with your own (paltry:p:p) 6" scope (same size as my biggest!), you will be assimilated into the Collective...which means you will NEVER stop wanting a larger scope!

Locutus of Borg:D

Perfect!

[bish]

Remember that aperture fever can often lead to eyepiece fever. This can be just as serious. A big fast dob with supplied eyepieces that aren't great. You look around and read that televue are good with fast scopes. Naglers have very wide fov, which is good with a dob - but then what about the Ethos?? The recent televue sale started me off down that path (although I had previously replaced the SW eyepieces with better ones).

Don't forget the best scope is the one you use the most. When I lived in a flat I could lift my 6" straight onto the balcony. I was out on every single clear night. When I decided to upgrade I wanted to get a 10" dob but literally had nowhere to store the tube. I could store an 8" but the EQ5 wouldn't fit on the balcony. Having to transport it up the road everytime meant that it got much less use. Now I've moved into a house with storage and garden I treated myself to the 10" I had intended to buy a couple of years ago. I happy with my scope now for a while - but keep looking at the eyepieces for sale.

Another thing is when I was content with my scope and eps I spent my time either observing or reading up on the subject. As soon as I started thinking about more kit I spent more time reading reviews, scouring suppliers and agonising over what to spend than actually getting on and just enjoying the hobby. I'm the same with camera kit.

[Pug]

Aperture fever? FEED IT

David Lukehurst - Large Portable Dobsonian Dobson Dobsons Telescopes - Index

om nom nom nom

Om nom nom nom indeed, I need a lottery win!

[beamer3.6m]

I find DSO's are just fuzzy patches even in my 8" so I would recommend that you try before you buy as you may find that your 6" gives your as much bang for your buck as your gonna get.

[swamp thing]

I find DSO's are just fuzzy patches even in my 8" so I would recommend that you try before you buy as you may find that your 6" gives your as much bang for your buck as your gonna get.

Ooooh noooo! Believe me, you can see a huge amount more than that.

Regards Steve

[Moonshane]

I think the cure for my aperture fever was using a 22" f5 for a night with my mate Mike. This is a truly wonderful and attractive/powerful scope but far too big for me. Standing on a ladder all night to view was a good novelty but would get tiresome for me eventually.

I have therefore settled on 'only' 16" of aperture which is as much as I can afford currently. It's an f4 scope too so this combats the height issue and also the eyepiece issue as the focal length of this scope and my old 12" are the same and I'd already sold my 35mm Pan and replaced it with a 26mm Nagler in anticipation of the purchase so the exit pupils are a lot better all round. So no need to change any eyepieces either (although a Paracorr might be on the cards).

the main thing is enjoy the scope you have when you have it and if/when you get a larger instrument, enjoy that too!

[Capricorn]

DSO's will always be grey fuzz.

Some detail may become visible but don't expect Hubble pictures, they have been heavily processed long before you see them.

Also how well collimated is your scope? If out of collimation then this will degrade what you see,

[bish]

If you are not happy looking at grey fuzzy things then maybe you should get into imaging. If I had a 12" or 16" no doubt I would look at M13, M51 etc but I would spend most of my time still trying to see those really faint hazy patches. For me it's all about the challenge of finding new things and tracking down the furthest faintest objects I can. The main reason for me to get a bigger scope is to find new DSO's (which is a shame when you live with terrible light pollution!). I would still love to spend a night looking at the more interesting DSO's with a 25" scope though.

[aGreyarea]

I'm with Bish,

I started with a 150mm newt too and was, not disappointed, but knowing there was so much more to see, and knowing I was never going to travel to see it (car was too small even for the cg4) my only option was imaging.

This is fine if you don't mind starting yet another new learning curve. One I am however happy to have started down.

It may or may not cost more, I've spent less than the cost of a new 12" dob, let alone eyepieces, and I'm very happy with the results. Which is the main thing.

I suppose it depends on if you want to 'see' it or be happy to 'record' it.

Good luck!