What is the limit of a 10" Dobsonian?

[TheEli]

I've decided to order a 10" Dobsonian as my second telescope, as i'm told if I would like to do astrophotography later on I can just buy an equatorial mount and place the scope ontop of it. However i'm not sure on what kind of galaxies and nebula i'll be able to see(not for pics) when using it in my quite light polluted town(or what I wont be able to see). Thanks!!!

[jimmyjamjoejoe]

Deep Sky Sketches - Deep Sky Watch

Should give you a rough idea of what you'l see visually from a moderately dark place. Light pollution will obviously affect it, and filters can help with it. Ultimately, we can't really tell you since conditions will be different every night.

[swamp thing]

Hi

Half the fun of using any telescope is "finding out" what is achievable with it.

Rest assured a 10" is a very powerful scope and will keep you amused for years and years.

I am yet to exhaust mines capability and I have been observing over twenty years.

The great thing about getting a Dob mounted scope is it's portability too. The seconds of set up time mean transporting a Dob to a dark sky site is a real possibility.

A 10" scope and dark skies = one happy astronomer.

Regards Steve

[Neil1194]

Only had mine a couple of weeks - love it - quick tp set up - simple to use - cant go wrong - still finding my way round with it so havent been able to test it to the full yet

[AlphaRob]

I had my 10" dob out in the street last night as i dont get much of a view from the garden. So under street lights with a full moon and no filters could easily see the ring nebula, the dumbell nebula, Andromeda galaxy and the double cluster. I was only out for a bit as i was showing some friends some things so didnt go hunting for fainter objects. Good views for such bad light pollution

[umadog]

If you live somewhere light polluted then the light pollution will limit you more than the telescope. You'd need to tell us more about your light pollution than about the telescope. Look up the Bortle scale and figure out where along it you fall.

[Mark at Beaufort]

I have a 10" Dob and if you look at my signature it will show you what I have seen with this scope.

The 10" is a great scope and not too heavy to move around.

Mark

[brantuk]

As with any dob - there's no practical limit on what you can see with it. But to get the very best out of it you need a totally dark site and fully dark adapted eyes.

It's true larger dobs will see more under the right conditions (fainter objects and greater detail) but I don't think you need worry because we're talking about billions of objects - more than you have time to see in an entire lifetime with any size aperture over 6".

However - mounting it on an equatorial platform with the objective of astrophotography is your big sticking point. A 10" scope will require a very substantial mount - something bigger and beefier than an EQ6 (which will only just cope with observing at that size) will be required. I would stick with a large dob for observing only, and look into different scope types for imaging

[faulksy]

Deep Sky Sketches - Deep Sky Watch

Should give you a rough idea of what you'l see visually from a moderately dark place. Light pollution will obviously affect it, and filters can help with it. Ultimately, we can't really tell you since conditions will be different every night.

thats brilliant jimmy, thanks for that:)