Troy: The best feature of an 8 inch telescope is it's portability. You should keep this telescope as a "grab and go" telescope that is quick to set up and easy to use. The view through telescopes starts to get significantly better at 12 inches of aperture. However the convenience feature is seriously diminished. Going up to 18 inches will give you absolutely grand views but you are starting to need a crew of people to help you just set the thing up and you need a larger vehicle to carry it around. Amateur owned telescopes tend to top out at 24 inches and the views through them are to die for, but moving and assembling them is a real bear. I suggest that you keep your 8 inch until you are proficient in using it. Then attend some star parties and look through other people's telescopes to see how the view compares. You may step up to a larger telescope and still keep the 8 inch for occasional use because of it's easy portability. DT --- On Wed, 8/19/09, Troy Davidson <clandaith@gmail.com> wrote:
From: Troy Davidson <clandaith@gmail.com> Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Telescope and Eyepiece Help To: "Utah Astronomy" <Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com> Date: Wednesday, August 19, 2009, 9:35 AM Hello all,
I'm a relatively new person to the group. I recently (Feburary) bought an 8" dobsonian. I have a 9mm and a 32mm eyepiece.
When I take my telescope out to Skull Valley (pretty dark there) and look at Messier objects that are around 8 mag, I can hardly see them. All they look like are feint smudges. I have a hard time making out crisper objects. Also, all objects are just gray. There is no color to them. When I look at planets, I do see some color. I know that I won't get color like astro images, but I would expect some hints of color in these objects.
Could it be that the mirrors in my telescope need adjusting? Could I need better eyepieces? Is it just me being unrealistic?
My telescope is a Zhumell, and according to their site, http://www.zhumell.com/specialty/zhumell-telescopes-dobsonian.html, I should have a useful magnification up to 479X. I assume this is with a barlow or other magnifier added.
Any help would be great. Thanks.
++++++++++++++++++ Troy Davidson Am I working - http://www.istroyworking.com
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