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WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THIS ARTICLE? "REFRACTORS ARE NO GOOD"

refractordude
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Paul M
Paul M

I think they are useless too. I'm currently offering a free disposal service. Send your refractors to me and I'll get rid. For high end refractors, Tak's and the like, I'll pay carriage upto £25.

Stub Mandrel
Stub Mandrel

Don't fret @ollypenrice, I've fixed it for you (Alternative title: "What a Refractor Owner thinks Newtonian Users see")

niallk
niallk

I love my dobs. I love my Lunt Ha specifically tuned frac. Anything that gives you enjoyment and a sense of wonder... Hell - sometimes at a dark site I stand back from my scope and just

Posted Images

Stub Mandrel

Stub Mandrel

Posted
Posted

I worry about the amount of 'gun' content on a website by someone who obviously has a chip on their shoulder.

Virtually all 'x is better than y' arguments are sterile because the needs and wants of individuals vary so much. Let alone considering differences in sky quality, acuity of vision, colour perception, pupil size, time availability, local climate, budget, other equipment...

I am totally of the view that the best equipment for anyone is something they can afford and find pleasant and straightforward to use. Very often someone's choice of viewing will follow the capabilities of their equipment and not the other way around.

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F15Rules

F15Rules

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, iPeace said:
1 hour ago, F15Rules said:
53 minutes ago, Saganite said:

Dave, you crack me up .....Freda the Funnel indeed !:laughing4:

All said in good fun Steve☺..

Perhaps our Newt and Dob friends can come up with some names for fracs??

 

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25585

25585

Posted
Posted
54 minutes ago, estwing said:

Last time I observed with the Frac pack this happened...

 

image.jpeg

New model, the "Firebridge". Probably somebody was pushed over the edge from mirror collimation stress or mirror coating anxiety.

Maybe the ? article writer would like to address those aspects of Newtonian reflector ownership. "Newtonians can drive you nuts" ?

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Highburymark

Highburymark

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, ollypenrice said:

 

If all you are interested in, visually, is going deeper then aperture is king. But if all you are interested in is going deeper then get a bigger scope. Visual refractor enthusiasts are not obsessed with going deeper, they are are passionate about the quality of the view at an emotional level. Deeper or better? There is no right answer. Both are perfectly valid obsessions.

 

Very nicely put Olly. 

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DeepSkyMan

DeepSkyMan

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, estwing said:

Last time I observed with the Frac pack this happened...

 

image.jpeg

This is obviously a cathartic ceremonial burning at an AA (Aperture Anomomous) meeting, see the desperation in the poor addict’s face and posture even as the scope beckons to him in the midst of its death throes???

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mikeDnight

mikeDnight

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, iPeace said:

I'll admit I was surprised to find out for myself just how subtle the spikes are...

Ah but although they may not be obvious on all stars, they are still present, smearing the image even on extended objects like the moon and planets. Coupled with coma, spider diffraction along with secondary obstruction, light scatter and tube currents all play a part in softening the view through a reflector. Then there's the difficulty of obtaining surface accuracy of a mirror which needs to be at least four times more accurate than that of any one surface of a doublet refractor. Oh and refractors offer brighter images inch for inch over the reflector, and if the refractor uses fluorite, then there's even greater light throughput. All this is true, but I still value reflectors for their light gathering and greater resolution capabilities. :grin:

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Moonshane

Moonshane

Posted
Posted

Having used both newts and dobs for quite a few years now I actually agree with what he says but also feel he only shares a small aspect of the comparison. Yes I like the aperture of my dobs  but compared with the view through my 120mm Equinox the stars look blobby.  It's  not all about aperture but for some targets aperture matters. I as always am glad to be lucky enough to be able to select one of my three newts/dobs or my Equinox or even my bins to observe. Why restrict yourself if funds allow.

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25585

25585

Posted
Posted (edited)
14 minutes ago, iPeace said:

Just saying, as an owner of some very nice fracs, that the view through a Newt is surprisingly familiar. And good. Just saying. :happy11:

We are convinced you are convinced. ?

Do you/did you find it disorientating switching from a diagonal's axis view to that of a Newtonian? When using mine, going from Telrad to finder to Newtonian is always @_@  Changing to a RACI tfinder makes only 1 adjustment necessary.

Edited by 25585
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ollypenrice

ollypenrice

Posted
Posted (edited)
2 hours ago, estwing said:

Last time I observed with the Frac pack this happened...

 

image.jpeg

It was a really warm night and he was trying to get it to ambient.

Olly

 

Edited by ollypenrice
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ollypenrice

ollypenrice

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Don't fret @ollypenrice, I've fixed it for you :icon_biggrin:

(Alternative title: "What a Refractor Owner thinks Newtonian Users see")

temp.thumb.png.5d20cad7197fcc740b5992c3e38a2b8c.png

Thanks, that's so much better. I'll give you a free week's holiday if you tell me how you did it.*

Olly

*In Anchorage, Alaska in June.

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pi_co100

pi_co100

Posted
Posted

When I started being interested in astronomy in the 80s, reflectors were the only way to go. Achromatic refractors were very very expensive (yes I had to rely only on parents and relatives donations!). However after many years of me not using my SCT as taking too long to cool down, tricky to collimate, but frankly mainly heavy bulky and time consuming to set up I have bought a Tak FC-100D  and for me there is no going back, unless of course I will move to a site with dark skies where I can put an observatory. All I see around me are people selling their SCTs and keeping their APOs...

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Stub Mandrel

Stub Mandrel

Posted
Posted
9 hours ago, ollypenrice said:

Thanks, that's so much better. I'll give you a free week's holiday if you tell me how you did it.*

Olly

*In Anchorage, Alaska in June.

You could end up regretting making that offer to an ecologist :evil4:

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mikeDnight

mikeDnight

Posted
Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, pi_co100 said:

When I started being interested in astronomy in the 80s, reflectors were the only way to go. Achromatic refractors were very very expensive (yes I had to rely only on parents and relatives donations!). However after many years of me not using my SCT as taking too long to cool down, tricky to collimate, but frankly mainly heavy bulky and time consuming to set up I have bought a Tak FC-100D  and for me there is no going back, unless of course I will move to a site with dark skies where I can put an observatory. All I see around me are people selling their SCTs and keeping their APOs...

SCT owners should be prosecuted under the cruelty to photons act, which doesn't actually exist, but should do! After travelling hundreds of thousands or even millions of light years, only to end up bellyflopping onto a Schmidt corrector plate; its just so sad!!

Edited by mikeDnight
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ollypenrice

ollypenrice

Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, mikeDnight said:

SCT owners should be prosecuted under cruelty to photons act, which doesn't actually exist, but should do! After travelling hundreds of thousands or even millions of light years, only to end up bellyflopping onto a Schmidt corrector plate; its just so sad!!

Ooooohhhh, things are warming up.

To be fair, photons which have spent only a few minutes in flight from Jupiter probably feel they've hit the jackpot if they sail into Damian Peach's corrector plate! Immortality at a stroke...

Olly

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JeremyS

JeremyS

Posted
Posted
55 minutes ago, jetstream said:

Peach etc use those pesky SCT's to great effect! I guess refractors can't compete in this realm...

True: aperture is king in the planetary imaging game as Damian Peach's images with SCT in the 9.25 to 14 inch range show!

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