Hi all
I had the oppertunity to visit the Hartbeeshoek Radio Astronomy Observatory(http://www.hartrao.ac.za) here in South Africa over the weekend. Very informative I might say.
At the end of the evening they pulled out their Celestron scope for us to view Saturn and the Orion Nebula.
Seeing conditions were great I thought (never saw so many stars since I have been observing - with bino's). Anyway I thought that the view of Saturn was not much better than the view through my 6" Newt in light poluted Johannesburg.
The Orion Nebula was better - could see quite a bit more of the nebula and it had a slight green tint to it.
My point is that I now cannot see that I'll ever spend $10000 on a scope when you get similar views through a $500 scope. The price difference is just not justified.
Anyway what are your thoughts and have you had similar experiences.
Regards
Douw
I had the oppertunity to visit the Hartbeeshoek Radio Astronomy Observatory(http://www.hartrao.ac.za) here in South Africa over the weekend. Very informative I might say.
At the end of the evening they pulled out their Celestron scope for us to view Saturn and the Orion Nebula.
Seeing conditions were great I thought (never saw so many stars since I have been observing - with bino's). Anyway I thought that the view of Saturn was not much better than the view through my 6" Newt in light poluted Johannesburg.
The Orion Nebula was better - could see quite a bit more of the nebula and it had a slight green tint to it.
My point is that I now cannot see that I'll ever spend $10000 on a scope when you get similar views through a $500 scope. The price difference is just not justified.
Anyway what are your thoughts and have you had similar experiences.
Regards
Douw