views with a 10" dobsonian

[charmedkelly]

what would the views be like with a 10" dobsonian

kelly

[russ]

A smidge better than the 8" on DSO's but not massively so. Visually, the planets show no real difference. I wouldn't bother with that jump again, would have to be 12" to be worthwhile.

[John]

I've currently got a 10" and I've owned 8" and 12" dobs. I'd agree with Russ - you really need to consider a 4" jump to get performance increases that are really noticable. I "down sized" for reasons of ease of use and portability and it's worked because my 10" is getting used all the time. As well as a noticable step up in performance an 12" is a rather noticable step up in size, weight and bulk as well !.

[charmedkelly]

okay so go for a 12" i mean i think the dobsonians are fab u find then much easier to use, what sort of details would u see with the 12"

kelly

[charmedkelly]

see as u probably no i have the 8" but i wondered is there any lenses i could buy to enhance details and color of galaxies and nebulas

Kxx

[John]

okay so go for a 12" i mean i think the dobsonians are fab u find then much easier to use, what sort of details would u see with the 12"

kelly

The benefits are mostly on deep sky objects where you can actually start to see views a little like some of the photos from a dark sky sight. I saw the spiral arms of the galaxy M51 with a 12" dob at the SGL4 star party last year and it was a fabulous sight

Of course many of the galaxies are still faint blobs but you can see more of them - in fact you find yourself stumbling over them in some parts of the sky with a 12" !. Globular clusters are also superb - the brighter ones are resolved into stars right across their cores.

I think you do need acess to a dark sky site to really get the best out of a large aperture dobsonian though. My back garden has some light pollution so it's not really ideal - another reason I downgraded from a 12" - my viewing conditions just did not really do it justice

[John]

You still won't see much, if any colour in DSO's though, being honest - maybe some green in M42. It's our eyes you see, rather than the scope. Filters and eyepieces don't change this. UHC and OIII filters do help a lot with contrast on nebluae, especially planetary nebulae.

[charmedkelly]

well i'm a little luckier i actually drive about 5mins away and there a centre which has a nice big car park and its quite dark there, amazing!! yep my backgarden is very light polluted too , and it has decking to its no too god fore viewing coz the scope is always shaking thats why i get away from it lol.

K

xx

[charmedkelly]

i see, im having alot of fun searching, found the crab neb last night but that was more of a grey smudge maybe needs to be a little more dark in the skies

kxx

[russ]

A dark sky is what really makes a difference. Seeing M51 in the 50mm finder is a lasting memory from Kelling 2004. I struggle to see it back home in the main scope.

The 10" would be worth getting providing the extra outlay over your current 8" isn't too much. I had the 8 and 10 out side by side a couple of weeks ago. And can say hand on heart the difference wouldn't be worth much more than £50-70 more than what your 8" is worth.

That said, i was really suprised just how light the 10 was. I remember my old XT10 being heavier but perhaps time has dulled my memory. The 10 was not any more trouble than the 8 really.

I did find the 10 less stable on it's dob base compared to the 8.

A good quality widefield eyepiece is a great addition to the 8. It's great surfing the with a 13mm-16mm Ultra Wide, like a Nagler, UWAN or Nirvana.

Russ

[charmedkelly]

Hi Russ

Sent you a pm

Kelly

[Chris H]

If you have an 8 inch dob and you want to move to a larger scope I believe you should be looking for a scope with a primary mirror twice the area as the mirror on the 8. An 8 inch mirror is 50.3 square inches, a 10 inch mirror is 78.5, a 12 is 113.1, a 14 is 154 and a 16 is 200. So if I am correct the next step form an 8 would be a 12 or greater.

[charmedkelly]

Hi Kris

Thanks For Your Input

Kxx