Refractors are special.

[Sunshine]

Without sounding like I am bashing other designs, I would like say I think there’s something special about refractors. Just a half hour ago I was sitting in my catsperch chair and having a great time looking at the trapezium at high power. Seeing was not the best as stars shimmered and flared but even so, I was able to see E&F stars without issue, I find it fascinating to be able to spot such minuscule stars. Once in a while I would take my eye off the eyepiece and look up along this big beautiful refractor pointing out into the sky, I would process and absorb what I am seeing in those moments.
 

Imagine what Galileo thought as he looked at Jupiter through his 40mm Telescope, one thing on my bucket list is to see his telescope in person. When I look through a refractor I feel connected to him through the centuries that divide us, I visited his tomb (not sure if he is actually in there) or it is symbolic or something but I must see his refractor, where modern science was born, I firmly believe.

Edited January 30 by Sunshine

[RobertI]

I agree about the minuscule stars, when I see a tiny faint pinprick of companion star, I often wonder how my eyes are good enough to see it. I’ve only experienced this in a refractor! 

[mikeDnight]

Spot on!  Nothing beats a refractor for sharpness of image. Other scopes with greater apertures may show more, but more often than not it's the refractor that gives the more aesthetically pleasing view, and I've never seen anything to change my mind about that. In 1980 when I first started out in this wonderful hobby, I was fortunate enough to befriend an older astronomer who told me "You cant beat a 4" refractor"! Of course back then I believed every word blindly, but today I know exactly what he meant. Other scopes - even larger refractors - may show more, but the humble 4" has a special place in the minds and hearts of many amateurs. Plus, sitting back in a garden chair and admiring the silhouette of a refractor set against a starry backdrop has an almost erotic appeal. No other scope design does that to me; perhaps I'm revealing too much about myself here!? 

Edited January 30 by mikeDnight

[Saganite]

I have always had a foot in both camps, in fact my very first scope was a  homemade 6" reflector which gave me my first view of Saturn, and a very very special evening was that, but I too fell for the beauty of a refractor  as early as I can remember, in the 1960's, but my parents could not afford one and until the advent of Chinese refractors, neither could I.  Nothing beats the sharpness of a refractor, as Mike says,  and nothing compares to the beauty of one, particularly a long focus one......of 5" aperture.....in white...

Edited January 30 by Saganite

[plyscope]

Refractors have certainly got me hooked.  I was able to visit Florence a few years ago and see some of Galileo's telescopes.

Edited February 8 by plyscope

[Naughty Neal]

Yep, love my f12.4 acro and f11.2 ed.  When they are both on the pillar and skytee2 they do look the biz.

[Space Hopper]

I couldn't agree with you more 'Sunshine'

I've always loved them too and have had my current scope for over 5 years now, and it will be with me till I have to give it all up.

I'm a bit of a traditionalist (is that the right word?) and like to keep it black and white ; i'm not into all these garish colours and tube rings etc

just a nice white aluminium tube, (i don't even like carbon fibre) a well designed high performance optic at one end, and a Feathertouch at the other. Thats all i require.

Maybe someday i'll get a 4" to go with the 5.5" i have now, we'll see. I've always fancied a Televue scope or something from Stellavue or Astro Physics over in the US. I've always liked American gear,

and have certainly done my bit to help keep the US economy ticking along !! 🇺🇸

 

[Chaz2b]

Well I have four 4" refractors! as well as a 90mm, 80mm and 78mm refractor, think I caught the bug.🤒

Chaz

Edited January 30 by Chaz2b
missed a refractor

[Stu]

You think you’ve got issues, these are just the Fluorite ones*! 😬😬

*The Genesis is a bit of an outlier here, but apparently it does have a fluorite element in the rear Petzval doublet.

EDIT they are known as the Fluorite Floosies, from left to right: Freddie, Felicity, Geoffrey, Phil, Florence and Phyllis 🤣

[Gonariu]

Good team!!!

[Chaz2b]

I think it's more of a dream than an issue🤑

[Gonariu]

Yes, it is!!!

[Sunshine]

31 minutes ago, Stu said:

You think you’ve got issues, these are just the Fluorite ones*! 😬😬

*The Genesis is a bit of an outlier here, but apparently it does have a fluorite element in the rear Petzval doublet.

Oh wow, a refractor pan flute!

[cajen2]

I have this argument with a friend on a daily basis. He owns two dobs: a 10" and a 16". He likes making out faint fuzzies. Good luck to him....I can't do it because of light pollution, both in the sky and nearby street lights, etc. So I spend most of my time on planets, the Moon and double/multiple stars. 

I've had two dobs  (6" and 8") and now use a Starfield 102ED frac. I love the SF for what it can do for me. It'd be useless to my mate with his fuzzies but excels on stars, clusters, doubles and does a good job on the planets. He's just bought a similar frac to mine (Astrotech) but doesn't like or use it much because he's not into planets, doubles etc.

It's a waste of my time saying how beautiful the views are through a frac - it doesn't do what he wants as well as his giant dobs. Horses for courses.

[DirkSteele]

You might be preaching to the choir here.

Me with my APM LZOS 180mm triplet in Wales.

 

My APM LZOS 130/1200 triplet in central London.

 

My LZOS 115mm triplet in Kent.

 

My APM LZOS 105mm in the desert in Oman.

 

My Takahashi FC-76 on an island in Mozambique.

 

My Takahashi FS-60Q in Namibia.

 

My Takahashi FS-60 on a different island in Mozambique.

 

My FC-76Q on the beach in Saundersfoot in Wales.

 

And my Tak FC-100 in central London.

 

It’s fair to say, that if they weren’t so special, I would not have quite so many of them!

[mikeDnight]

16 minutes ago, cajen2 said:

I have this argument with a friend on a daily basis. He owns two dobs: a 10" and a 16". He likes making out faint fuzzies. Good luck to him....I can't do it because of light pollution, both in the sky and nearby street lights, etc. So I spend most of my time on planets, the Moon and double/multiple stars. 

I've had two dobs  (6" and 8") and now use a Starfield 102ED frac. I love the SF for what it can do for me. It'd be useless to my mate with his fuzzies but excels on stars, clusters, doubles and does a good job on the planets. He's just bought a similar frac to mine (Astrotech) but doesn't like or use it much because he's not into planets, doubles etc.

It's a waste of my time saying how beautiful the views are through a frac - it doesn't do what he wants as well as his giant dobs. Horses for courses.

As deep sky is your friends passion, may be he would appreciate a NP101 with a 35mm Panoptic under a dark sky, as it will show him views of deep sky he could never achieve with his big Dob. 

[cajen2]

1 minute ago, mikeDnight said:

As deep sky is your friends passion, may be he would appreciate a NP101 with a 35mm Panoptic under a dark sky, as it will show him views of deep sky he could never achieve with his big Dob. 

Not in his view. There is no substitute for aperture in his universe. His 16" will gather in far more light than the 101, making distant galaxies visible which no hobbiest frac could detect. It's a reasonable view if that's what you want from your scope.

[Sunshine]

16 minutes ago, DirkSteele said:

You might be preaching to the choir here.

Me with my APM LZOS 180mm triplet in Wales.

 

My APM LZOS 130/1200 triplet in central London.

 

My LZOS 115mm triplet in Kent.

 

My APM LZOS 105mm in the desert in Oman.

 

My Takahashi FC-76 on an island in Mozambique.

 

My Takahashi FS-60Q in Namibia.

 

My Takahashi FS-60 on a different island in Mozambique.

 

My FC-76Q on the beach in Saundersfoot in Wales.

 

And my Tak FC-100 in central London.

 

It’s fair to say, that if they weren’t so special, I would not have quite so many of them!

Oh my! as I scrolled down I was waiting for an image of you with a refractor on the summit of Everest 😆

[Saganite]

I am too old now to consider a 16" Dob but I still have a 12" .  I also have my APM ED 152 and I much prefer using the big frac for everything, deep sky included, so much so that I will probably dispose of the Dob before too long.

[DirkSteele]

10 minutes ago, Sunshine said:

Oh my! as I scrolled down I was waiting for an image of you with a refractor on the summit of Everest 😆

Bucket list! Less atmosphere in the way up there. 😉

[SuburbanMak]

12 hours ago, Sunshine said:
 

Imagine what Galileo thought as he looked at Jupiter through his 40mm Telescope, one thing on my bucket list is to see his telescope in person. When I look through a refractor I feel connected to him through the centuries that divide us

Absolutely agree with this - the same thing is in the back of my mind whenever I look at a Messier object through “The Gentleman’s Telescope” a lovely brass Clarkson 3” f15 c.1909 - Messier made many of his earlier discoveries through a refractor of similar aperture. To have this venerable old ‘scope slewing around the sky on a modern Wi-Fi guided mount is a very satisfying steam-punk experience. 

The magic of those tight, ball like stars and high contrast planetary views against inky black backgrounds has led me down a path of eBay childhood wish fulfilment for the white enamel tubes I saw in Dixons showroom as a kid - in addition to the edwardian Clarkson I’ve a Hilkin f13.3 60mm, Prinz f11.8 60mm and a TOWA 339 80mm f15, then there’s the widefield 2” converted ST80. 

All of these seem to have been gateway drugs to a severe bout of Tak-itis.  Since buying a Tak FC100 DC a year ago I’ve rarely been motivated to look through anything else and it will be joined by an FS60Q this coming weekend! 

A sell-off will ensue but I will briefly own 7 refractors. (Rest assured though, that brass Clarkson has a home for life…) 

[jjohnson3803]

I started out with a 60mm when I was a kid, so I suppose there's an element of nostalgia for me.  After my classic C8 sat in storage for a couple decades, I got back into the hobby with an st120 and gradually added smaller fracs to my collection.  Tried a 90mm Mak which was a good scope IMO, but I really prefer the wider FOVs of fracs.  Plus it's hard to beat the portability and ease of storage.

 

[JeremyS]

I somehow missed this thread. Best title for a thread in ages, @Sunshine

Anyway, I’d like to see someone try licking a Newton mirror…..it’s refractors all the way 👍🏻

[Mandy D]

8 minutes ago, JeremyS said:

Anyway, I’d like to see someone try licking a Newton mirror…..it’s refractors all the way 👍🏻

I suppose if it were a truss tube, it would be relatively easy! 🤣

[JeremyS]

4 minutes ago, Mandy D said:

I suppose if it were a truss tube, it would be relatively easy! 🤣

Until the inevitable happens 🤔