RE: ATM Sanity Check

[akelly <akelly@ghg.net>]

Tim,

    You didn't mention the sky conditions (darkness and transparency)
that you observed under, but this makes a huge difference.  Your 10"
f4.5 will show the spiral structure of M51 very nicely from a dark
mountaintop, but even a 40" scope would struggle from the suburbs of
Atlanta.  Also, visual work is like anything else, the quality of it is
a function of experience and dedication and you will get out of it only
as much as you put into it.  You shouldn't ever expect to see visually
the same details and contrast that you see in well-processed CCD and
film images, but the rewards of visual work even with small scopes under
medium skies are very real and provide subtle and illuminating insights
to the dedicated observer.

Al Kelly
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>Date: Sun, 18 Apr 1999 23:12:04 EDT
>From: "Tim Walters" <trwalters@hotmail.com>
>Subject: ATM Sanity Check

>I need to ask a couple of questions...
>Some background first:

>The first model I built as a child was a working scale model of the
200" Palomar reflector - that was 35 years ago. I looked at the moon -
that was very cool. I looked at some stars - cool, but just points of
light. I didn't see anything that would consume my interests. So, I
didn't do much with telescopes/astronomy until I was an adult, when I
bought my first (of several) "dimestore refractors". I looked at the
moon & some stars - pretty, but no big deal (to me). Then last
December, I managed to get a 10" paraboloid mirror. NOW I'LL GET TO
SEE ALL THIS STUFF EVERYBODY ELSE HAS BEEN SEEING! So, being the
obsessive type, I got all the magazines, books and manuals. I built an
excellent 10", f4.5 dobsonian. Telrad, kinematic mounts on primary and
secondary, razor-thin spider arms, black felt on the inside of the
OTA, teflon & ebony star, etc, etc. It is autocollimated and star
tested to perfection.....All I see is pinpoints of light. Oh, yeah, I
did see M51 tonight - a couple of faint blotches that I had to use
averted vision on. I'm I expecting too much?
Must I get a CCD outfit and a 36" scope to "see" galaxies and nebulas?
During "first light" with this scope, I looked at the Orion nebula.
That was pretty, but it still looked like a faint blob of cotton
candy.

Okay, I'm not whining - I'm just trying to determine what I should be
expecting. Is points of light and faint blotches what all the "hubbub"
>is about?