What, didn't you read everything that I wrote? I agree with Dave, for exactly the same reasons. I also opt for my 10-inch because it is just that much more portable. My 12.5-inch Cave is too heavy. I could put the Cave mirror in an alt-az, truss-tube system, but a truss-tube mount takes more time to put together. I can lift the 10-inch out of the car and be observing within 5 minutes of arriving at any site. How about eyepieces? Picking just one is tougher than picking a single telescope, but I would opt for a mid-range wide-field eyepiece. In my collection and for my 10-inch f5.1 scope, that would be my 18-point-something (I forget the fraction) Meade ultra-wide angle eyepiece. There might be better choices out there, but I already own this one. ;-) My Meade eyepieces are the only Meade products that I still use. The 18.?mm gives great magnified views of deep sky objects with good contrast, and I can attach my 1-1/4 OIII filter to it. Planetary and lunar views, while maybe not spectacular (a bit lower magnification than optimum when the seeing is good and some contrast problems on really bright objects) are still pretty good. All around it's a good eyepiece for most of my needs with that scope. Kim -----Original Message----- From: utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of Chuck Hards Sent: Friday, February 03, 2012 10:23 AM To: Utah Astronomy Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Pick one and stick with it See, now, Dave is going along with the spirit of the question. I tend to agree with him, although I may go for a 12.5" Newt if kept lightweight. You can get unobstructed off-axis views of reasonable aperture and longer f/ratio if you mask it; really such a scope would be two scopes in one. On Fri, Feb 3, 2012 at 10:16 AM, Dunn, David <David.Dunn@supervalu.com>wrote:
I would go with my 10" Orion Dob. It is big enough to see galaxies and other deep space stuff. It does well at high power on planets and the Moon. It is light enough that I can handle it now and when I am older. It will fit in cars. I can sit while observing and I don't need a ladder.
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