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8" Newtonian vs. 10" Dobsonian

emadmoussa

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emadmoussa

emadmoussa

Posted
Posted

You might wonder, what on earth is the comparison for between 2 different aperture sizes. 

Well, the story goes like this. Next month I'm expecting to have my first 10" Dobsonian - GSO 10" from TS (negotiations with them led to discount and an item reserved for me :) ) at the same time I'm ''ridiculously" tempted to just settle for a 8" reflector that I can happily use on my giro. In my mind, 2" difference in aperture in a moderate-to-low light polluted garden won't make a massive difference. I had an 8" reflector before and was happy with its performance. So not sure what extra a 10" will give me .

The other reason is limited space. a 8" will be easier to manage. This doesn't mean I won't find a place to store the 10" dob...but as you know smaller objects take up less room (not exactly physics, is it :? :D).

Thoughts?

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spaceboy

spaceboy

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I had the 250PX and sold it in favour of keeping my 200P on EQ mount. There was a slightly noticeable improvement in the views over the 8" but the substantial difference in size of OTA became the deciding factor in the end. I have once again found this to be the case after considering getting the 250PDS. It may only be 2" aperture gain but the OTA is very much larger than that.

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Luke

Luke

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I'd go the 10 for the extra light grasp. It's a pretty low hassle scope, it feels hardly any bother at all to me to move it, and I like using it just as much as my giro mount and a frac. It moves so smoothly and balances really well. It's a very powerful scope while being pretty manageable :)

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Luke

Luke

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The base on my 10 is pretty light and doesn't seem massive. Unless you compare it to one of those fab looking Orion Optics UK bases!

I'm not really worried about the base...I was simply exploring the pros and cons per se...OTA size vs. power...

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foundaplanet

foundaplanet

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I know it is often said that a 2" increase in aperture is hardly worth it for a noticable improvement on views but I do not personally agree here. I have looked side by side from 8-10 and 10-12 and they all seem like pretty large leaps to me. Maybe that is mostly down to my observing always being done in dark skies but there seems to be a significant improvement with each step to my eyes with both surface brightness and subtle detail on nebs and galaxies. I feel that a 10" is where it starts to get exiting..:)

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Naemeth

Naemeth

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I know it is often said that a 2" increase in aperture is hardly worth it for a noticable improvement on views but I do not personally agree here. I have looked side by side from 8-10 and 10-12 and they all seem like pretty large leaps to me. Maybe that is mostly down to my observing always being done in dark skies but there seems to be a significant improvement with each step to my eyes with both surface brightness and subtle detail on nebs and galaxies. I feel that a 10" is where it starts to get exiting.. :)

I agree, when I compared my 5.1" dob to my 6" newt the 6" newt seemed quite a bit brighter and gave nicer views of the Moon. Mind you, it was also a better mirror ;).

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tich

tich

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I was given a 250P a couple of months ago and I wasn't expecting much of a difference apart from the size but one object that eluded me was M76 when using the 200P. The first time I used it I saw it straight away being able to make out its shape nicely. Since then its been my main scope and apart from seeing objects brighter I am also able to make out more detail when looking at galaxies.

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