That one guy at the star party who told me my telescope was 'wrong'

I was out at a dark sky site near Moab last July, just setting up my 8 inch dob. This older dude walks over, looks at my rig, and says 'you know you're supposed to use a refractor for deep sky, right?' in this super condescending tone. I just laughed and said 'tell that to my Andromeda shots.' He walked off muttering. I still think about that sometimes. Anyone else run into the 'telescope police' at public viewing nights?

2 comments

2 Comments

lewis.drew5d ago

You ever try framing an M31 shot through a long tube refractor that's wobbling in the wind? I'll take my dob any day. The telescope police forget that aperture wins every time for photons. Plus, a decent dob is way easier to haul out to a dark site than a fancy APO rig on a tripod. That dude probably spent more time polishing his eyepieces than actually looking at stuff.

paulperry5d ago

Man, I had almost the same thing happen at a star party up near Payson... this guy told me I was wasting my time with a dob for planets. @lewis.drew is right, aperture is king and I just let my views of Saturn do the talking for me. Some people just can't let others enjoy the hobby their own way.