Skywatcher 16 inch dobsonian eye piece height

[bluesilver]

Hi,  I currently have a 10 inch Skywatcher Dobsonian got and was thinking of upgrading to either a 14 inch or 16 inch Dobsonian.

I just a have a few questions that i am hoping some might be able to help me out with.

What is the eye piece height of both the 14 and 16 inch Dobsonian when pointing straight up at Zenith?

Also just out of curiosity,  if i were to be looking at either Jupiter or Saturn with either the 14 or 16 inch Dobsonian,  would i get a better, larger image compared to what i am currently getting with my 10 inch Dobsonian?.

 

Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

[Geoff Barnes]

• 1 hour ago, bluesilver said:

  What is the eye piece height of both the 14 and 16 inch Dobsonian when pointing straight up at Zenith?

  Hi bluesilver, for both the 14" and 16" Dobs you're looking at an eyepiece height around 2 metres high, probably slightly more for the 16". Even wth my 12" Dob I have to stand on tiptoes to reach the VF at zenith and I'm about 6 feet tall.

• As for power, well the bigger the aperture the higher the potential maximum power, so yes you will get a bigger planetary image, BUT at the risk of loss of sharpness and brightness even with good seeing conditions.

• I find with my 12" Dob  250x to 350x is the most I can use before things start to get a bit dim and fuzzy.

• You will almost never be able to achieve the theoretical maximum magnification claimed for any telescope so long as the Earth has an atmosphere! 

[johninderby]

Skywatcher gives the eyepiece height at zenith for the 14” as 64” and for the 16” as 72”

Edited May 8, 2019 by johninderby

[Captain Scarlet]

As the aperture gets bigger, the range of useful magnifications must be higher in order to maintain the same range of exit pupil diameter (say 0.5mm - 7mm). The formula for exit pupil is Aperture divided by Magnification. This constraint is in addition to magnification limited by seeing, etc.

Edited May 8, 2019 by Captain Magenta

[bluesilver]

Thanks for the replies, appreciated.

Yes i thought there might be a catch when using bigger apertures.

I think for viewing planets i might look into a different scope,  but will ask about that in a different thread latter.

Was mainly interested to know the heights as i couldn't find them on the Skywatcher site.

Appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[cletrac1922]

One of my club members has recently purchased a 16" truss tube Dob

Takes him about an hour to set up, using battery drill, to screw all the trusses together

You looking instead at the SW collapsible Dob with Go-To

 

[rwilkey]

Hi Bluesilver, please note that planets will always look the size of a pea through any amateur telescope, but the detail will be improved with larger apertures.

Edited May 9, 2019 by rwilkey