6" Refractor

[drumsolo]

Still trying to decide whether to buy an 8" skywatcher reflector or a 6" refractor. What level of detail could I expect to see with the smaller refractor? Could I see galaxies or would they be too faint? Tia.

[brantuk]

I assume you've prepared yourself for the price difference?

Just thought I'd mention it

[nightfisher]

a 6 inch refractor is a lovely thing but it will need a heavy mount

[John]

I own a good 6" F/8 refractor and I've owned a couple of 8" newtonians / dobsonians. The dobs showed deep sky objects better - aperture rules in this case for those objects. For planetary / lunar / double stars it's a close call and the result would vary with the observing conditions.

You can see galaxies with the refractor of course (indeed, with smaller instruments as well) but and 8" or better still 10" aperture does noticeably better - but that should not be a surprise

I love large refractors but thats a "heart ruling head" thing and I do have a 10" newtonian for the faint fuzzies

Mounting a 6" F/8 is no joke either, as Nightfisher points out

[southernman]

I have a 6" f/8 frac that I use for the moon/planets/double stars. I also use it for bright deep sky objects quite succesfully however there is no replacement for aperture. In my limited experience to get a significant improvement in deep sky objects would require probably at least an 8" but 10" would be better.

[Ad Astra]

I have a large refractor, a 5.2-inch f/12 monster. It is the most beautiful scope you can imagine for lunar and planetary work, double stars and globulars. Photographically, this scope is absolutely amazing! but there are two things you should know:

1. Mounting such a scope properly is no small task. Even visual mounting requires a large, heavy, expensive mount and tripod or pier. The cost of the mount can often equal or surpass the cost of the scope itself - especially if you have dreams of using it with a camera.

2. Refractors tend to be specialty instruments. For the same price, you can get a much larger aperture reflector - especially if you stick to a dobsonian mount. Dobs now offer intelligent pointing, even Goto capability, they are also rugged and require much less fuss setting up and taking down.

I guess that's the third thing - The scope that is the easiest to use, gets used the most often, and brings delight to many more people.

You won't be disappointed in the views either way, just depends what direction you want to go with your observing. Below are a couple of photos of my Apomax on our patio. For scale, the mount is a Celestron CGEM, and the compass-rose mosaic on the floor is a 50" circle.

Dan