[AZ-Observing] Re: big scopes for planets
- From: Andrew Cooper <acooper@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 09 Jan 2002 22:23:11 -0700
I'd agree with Mike that larger scopes are viable for planetary viewing.
The best views of Jupiter I have ever had are through larger scopes.
Lyle Urich's 18" at TIMPA one spectacular night at up to 1200x, and a
much larger scope on Kitt Peak, both scopes used full aperture. In my
experience the larger scopes do provide the more detail as the physics
of diffraction would dictate.
But I have also seen times where a smaller aperture is just less subject
to atmospheric seeing effects. This was more than clearly demonstrated
on night at Yavapai point during GCSP, when when dawn came there were
three scopes that hadn't been put away during the night, a 41", a 28"
(Dennis Young's) and my 8". But when morning came everyone was looking
through my 8" as Jupiter and Saturn had risen before dawn and the
difference in the image was remarkable in the less than steady air, even
given approximately the same magnification. The seeing effects were
there in the 8", but the image just seemed to wander and the eye could
easily correct. While in the larger scope the image seemed to blur and
come back. I have listened to the adaptive optics people at Steward and
the theory of wavefronts and cells of seeing, but nothing makes more of
an impression than that morning walking between the scopes and directly
comparing the view.
But then the best view of Mars I had this opposition was through my own
18", again at full aperture. Now if only I had a decent secondary in
it! (Working on that)
Andrew
Mike Spooner wrote:
>
> I've been busy testing out an 18" personal mirror for my big Dob the past
> few weeks and thought I'd pass some observations along...
--
Andrew Cooper
Tucson, AZ
mailto:acooper@xxxxxxxxx
http://whitethorn.house.home.att.net
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