Refractor vs Reflector

[echotitan]

hi there everyone I'm new to the hobby and am still deciding on my first scope, I'm torn between a skywatcher explorer 150p reflector or a skywatcher star travel 120 refractor. there are some many places offering contradicting advice and was looking for some advice.

cheers

echotitan

[GazOC]

Hi, welcome to the forum

Of those two choices I'd go with the reflector, more aperture and none of the false colour the short refractor will show at high magnifications.

Gaz

[echotitan]

cheers gaz, my only concern with a the reflector was that people say there is a slight blur on images compared to a refractor ? do you know if this is true ?

echotitan

[GazOC]

Not blur as such, what you will see in reflector is a slight drop in contrast when compared to a refractor of the same size. This is due to the secondary mirror being in the light path and blocking light coming in, this lost of light is spread over the whole image that your eye sees and shows up primarily as a loss in contrast.

http://www.seds.org/~spider/scopes/obstruct.html

Explains the effects of the obstruction, if you don't want to get too into it just check the chart half way down. It gives a 150mm reflector as having the light gathering of a 140mm refractor (for faint objects mainly, galaxies, nebula etc) and the image definition of a 100mm refractor (contrast for planetary/ lunar). The reflector you are looking at will also be free of the distracting false colour that the refractor will show when observing the planets at high magnification, so I'd say it would outperform the 120mm on the planets as well.

[echotitan]

thanks for the advice will take all into consideration before opening my wallet think i'll probably get the explorer cheers gaz

echotitan

[GordonCopestake]

Dont forget that you will have to collimate the reflector to get the best from it. The Refractor will be more "care free". I tend to recommend refractors as beginner 'scopes but most people have no problems with collimation once they've done it a few times.

[echotitan]

cheers for the heads up on collimation, it shouldn't be to much of a problem as there a local chap who can guide me through it. I'm mostly concerned with getting the overall best experience for my money on both deep sky and our solar system and was thinking is there really a big difference between the 120mm refractor & 150mm reflector.

echotitan

[The Warthog]

The reflector has about 25 - 30% more light gathering capability. I have a 150mm reflector, and it is a nice instrument to use either on the planets, the moon, or DSOs. My refractor seems to have aslight edge on planets. I think either one is a safe bet, though.

[echotitan]

cheers warthog, the reflector definately seems like the more popular choice for allround usage, and it's cheaper to.

thanks

echotitan

[SteelRat]

Looks as though yer sorted - keep us informed. Welcome to SGL

[echotitan]

thanks 2 all for help & advice after much debating I finally decided to order a skywatcher explorer 150p, should arrive after the weekend and from then on should be happy star hunting thanks again.

[The Warthog]

I think you'll be happy with that scope, esp. considering the review in S@N in, I think, January.