TheSkySearchers

Well, 4" APO is nothing to sneeze at. I was amazed how deep it can reach at the dark site.

Bigzmey wrote: ↑Wed Feb 21, 2024 11:14 pm Well, 4" APO is nothing to sneeze at. I was amazed how deep it can reach at the dark site.

Truth be known if i could press the replay button i would have gone with my gut and taken a chance on something different, a 8 inch classical cass.

Mike Q wrote: ↑Fri Feb 23, 2024 9:52 am

Bigzmey wrote: ↑Wed Feb 21, 2024 11:14 pm Well, 4" APO is nothing to sneeze at. I was amazed how deep it can reach at the dark site.

Truth be known if i could press the replay button i would have gone with my gut and taken a chance on something different, a 8 inch classical cass.

We all been there (well, I have been there for sure). The worse you can do is to get stuck with something you don't like. This is a hobby and it should be about enjoyment.

Good thing is that astro equipment has a good re-sale value. You can recover most of your investment and move on to something better.

Bigzmey wrote: ↑Fri Feb 23, 2024 5:44 pm

Mike Q wrote: ↑Fri Feb 23, 2024 9:52 am

Bigzmey wrote: ↑Wed Feb 21, 2024 11:14 pm Well, 4" APO is nothing to sneeze at. I was amazed how deep it can reach at the dark site.

Truth be known if i could press the replay button i would have gone with my gut and taken a chance on something different, a 8 inch classical cass.

We all been there (well, I have been there for sure). The worse you can do is to get stuck with something you don't like. This is a hobby and it should be about enjoyment.

Good thing is that astro equipment has a good re-sale value. You can recover most of your investment and move on to something better.

Its not that its a bad scope, i am sure someone who really likes fracs would love it. When you are used to a 10 inch as your "small" scope, 4 inches becomes kind of a meh thing. The good thing is, it will ride very nicely in its case on the back seat of my truck and it will give us our astro fix when we are on vacation. So i will suppose we will hang onto it, for now anyway. It just gives me an excuse to save up some money for something better and more suited for what we like.

I am starting to do more observing with a 4 inch scope when I get a chance. A 10" dob will definitely show more, but with a bit darker skies you can still see a lot with a frac. My old location in California was made worse by the city with a new streetlight across the way plus encroaching LP. My other scope - a 6" frac is fine but is not very portable on a Twilight II mount. In fact I have not used it pretty much since I moved up here by the Canadian border. As a grab n go the four inch fits the bill. When and if I move to the SW or the California desert at some point I will put up an obsy and maybe house the 6" and a 12 inch Dob. Not sure when that will be though.

helicon wrote: ↑Fri Feb 23, 2024 10:24 pm I am starting to do more observing with a 4 inch scope when I get a chance. A 10" dob will definitely show more, but with a bit darker skies you can still see a lot with a frac. My old location in California was made worse by the city with a new streetlight across the way plus encroaching LP. My other scope - a 6" frac is fine but is not very portable on a Twilight II mount. In fact I have not used it pretty much since I moved up here by the Canadian border. As a grab n go the four inch fits the bill. When and if I move to the SW or the California desert at some point I will put up an obsy and maybe house the 6" and a 12 inch Dob. Not sure when that will be though.

My grab and go is my 10 inch. It lives on a cart so i just push it out and its ready to go. Here in my part of Ohio we are bortle 4 rural skies. Occasionally it gets darker then that, but that's our norm. Later this year we will be going to a dark sky site in Tennessee which is bortle 2. We will have the 102 with us and we will see what it can do under better skies.

Mike

I live under skies that are nominally Bortle 2 but day to day vary from Bortle 1 - Bortle 4 depending upon airborne particulates - smoke, dust, pollen and other haze.

Astrocamps and Star Parties in Australia don't have skies that are any better so I usually don't worry about bringing gear to these places. I go there for the social and networking and to look at other peoples gear. I doubt you will see more with a 4" under Bortle 2 skies than you will with a 16" under Bortle 4 skies. The 4" will give you wide field views, up to 3-4 degrees not achievable with a large reflector. Another approach is to put out a deck chair lay back and enjoy the wonderous naked eye view.

Some nights when the sky is really clear, I put out a reclining camp lounge chair, layback, feet up and enjoy the view. The telescope might be chugging away nearby collecting images.

In the cold of winter, snug and warm in my freezer suit, I can lay back and look straight up at the Milky Way core perched at the zenith. I can see a huge expanse of Milky Way arching 180 degrees horizon to horizon with Carina on the southern horizon to Cygnus on the northern horizon. I never ever get tired of that view.

Joe

Star parties in Ohio, they really arent a thing. There is the one over at the Warren Rupp Observatory but the timing never works out to go to that one.

The dark sky site we will be going to has one other advantage, not only is it bortle 2 it is also about 1000 feet higher then i am here. We will also be hitting up one of the highest points in the Smokey Mountains called Klingmans Dome, which is around 6,000 feet above sea level. We are looking forward to that very much.

As far as star parties go, as i said here in Ohio they arent really a thing. The closest parties would be at least six to eight hours away in West Virginia or Michigan. We are considering the one in WV for next year as a possibility.