Astronomy with a spotting scope

[Vaultman]

We went to my son's friends a few weeks ago and he brought out his telescope. I decided a few days back to use my spotter. Not having them side by side I cannot be sure, but my spotter (ATX 115) seemed to be on par with his telescope. IF I wanted to get a telescope for the family, is it going to beat my spotter?
PS If you haven't done it, you can see Jupiter and Saturn pretty well with a spotter.

 

[mighteywhitehunter]

I would say no, the telescope would not be any better optically, you have one of the best spotters out there. Get the doubler if you want to increase the horsepower.

If you digiscope, the whole family can enjoy it at the same time vs everyone taking turns looking through a telescope that will get used a few times then get moved into the attic or basement.(JMHO)

Pic from the last Blue Moon.

 

[Vaultman]

Horseposer is what I was wondering about. I just wonder what type of cost it would be to get something that "WOW's" more than the spotter.

 

[sbaker0029]

I've often wondered this myself.
I figure that at a certain point the spotter is going to have better glass quality, but that's just an assumption.
A lot of high dollar telescopes, I feel like you're paying for software to locate stars and constellations along with certain light filters for better viewing of some things.

 

[MattB355]

A 10" Dobsonian vs a Kowa TSN883 88mm is no comparison for astronomy. The Kowa just cannot collect enough light with an 88mm lens vs a 254mm Dobsonian. The field of view and the ability to see at 200x with the dob is unmatched. In a dark sky area you can see deep into the night sky. A blob of a start cluster through the Kowa at 60x will become 1000's of split out stars with the Dobsonian.

Orion SkyQuest XT10 Classic Dobsonian Telescope | Orion Telescopes

Our 5-star classic Dobsonians: Major bang for minor bucks. Shop online - 100% satisfaction guaranteed!

www.telescope.com

I have both the Kowa and the Dobsonian in the link. The Kowa is much easier to transport and has great views but if you are serious about astronomy you will want a telescope. If you look at the moon in the above telescope it will blind you with so much light that you would not want to look at it (you use tinted filters to calm down the light).

 

[camelcluch]

I have used my 65 meopta to let the kids look at the moon and such. It was fine with a very clear image but I wasn’t trying to look at crater ridges or anything super fine. I would think a 115 would be better than my 65.

 

[Vaultman]

A 10" Dobsonian vs a Kowa TSN883 88mm is no comparison for astronomy. The Kowa just cannot collect enough light with an 88mm lens vs a 254mm Dobsonian. The field of view and the ability to see at 200x with the dob is unmatched. In a dark sky area you can see deep into the night sky. A blob of a start cluster through the Kowa at 60x will become 1000's of split out stars with the Dobsonian.

Orion SkyQuest XT10 Classic Dobsonian Telescope | Orion Telescopes

Our 5-star classic Dobsonians: Major bang for minor bucks. Shop online - 100% satisfaction guaranteed!

www.telescope.com

I have both the Kowa and the Dobsonian in the link. The Kowa is much easier to transport and has great views but if you are serious about astronomy you will want a telescope. If you look at the moon in the above telescope it will blind you with so much light that you would not want to look at it (you use tinted filters to calm down the light).

So a 10" Dobsonian would be 200x?
Does that compare to the spotting scope world? Like my 115 swar goes up to 70x, so that Dobsonian wouldbe alomst 3 times the zoom?
That is one of the things I was trying to figure out.

You also mentioned the deep sky. I noticed that I can see Saturn with my naked eye (without detail), but then trying to find it with my ATX 115, I am seeing other stars near it, that my naked eye can't even see. It sounds like maybe what you are saying is that with a designated telescope I may be able to see even more ("deeper") than my spotter.

 

[100 others]

So a 10" Dobsonian would be 200x?
Does that compare to the spotting scope world? Like my 115 swar goes up to 70x, so that Dobsonian wouldbe alomst 3 times the zoom?
That is one of the things I was trying to figure out.

You also mentioned the deep sky. I noticed that I can see Saturn with my naked eye (without detail), but then trying to find it with my ATX 115, I am seeing other stars near it, that my naked eye can't even see. It sounds like maybe what you are saying is that with a designated telescope I may be able to see even more ("deeper") than my spotter.

I'm no expert on telescopes but I've been doing a bunch of research on them since my kids are getting interested. Light gathering is king. To get a magnification large enough to see the cool stuff, you need a massive objective to support that decrease in exit pupil size. On the smaller sized spotters you'll actually see some stars and moons disappear at higher magnification because the exit pupil is so small. Quality glass is always a bonus, but a larger lens size is the biggest factor at night.

 

[Cannonball]

i was pretty amazed a few years ago to be able to see the rings of Saturn with a cheap Nikon prostaff 20-60x82

 

[MattB355]

The power of the telescope is dictated by the eyepiece and focal length. The focal length of that 10" Dob is 1250mm. An eyepiece with a 30mm would have 1250/30=41.67 Power and an eyepiece of 4mm would be 1250/4=312.5 power. The max I have been able to use is around 200 power. At 200 power things move very fast in the eyepiece and any small movements with the telescope can move you off of what you are viewing. You need to be in a dark clear sky with a good atmosphere (no thermals) to be able to use extreme powers. I find the best is 30-40 power with a wide field eyepiece https://www.astronomics.com/35mm-2-panoptic.html is great for general viewing and finding objects. The eyepieces are what cost a fortune and make the view on the telescope....kind of like the swaro/zeiss of the telescope world. You put a higher eyepiece on when you want to zoom in for more detail like https://www.astronomics.com/9mm-nagler-type-6.html This one would give you 139x power. It is a different world. Find a local astronomy club and go out to one of their observation nights. You can try a bunch of telescopes and get an idea on what you would like and what works best for you. The reflectors are the best bang for the buck, then cassegrain and lastly the refractors (the refractors are like a spotter--the glass cost is insanely high to get a view similar to a reflector). You would have to spend $40-50k for a refractor (spotting scope style) to equal a 10" Dobsonian.