Everything below assumes a non infinite budget else 'the sky is the
limit' yuck-yuck.
Obviously the SJAA loaner program is really amazing and a wonderful way
to get people out and looking, thanks SJAA.
I would agree with Greg that on the medium dob and would say around half
of the scopes being 10" - 12" range (or even 8") dobs which are very
price-point agreeable scope with the fast setup/teardown so as not to
discourage people just starting out with polar alignment and EQ mounts.
I recall going from 4.5" newt to 8" was a real eye opener and a
fantastic scope. Somehow something magic does happen around 10". A
few of these with Intellescope or SkyCommander for folks curious about
what those mean before they buy may be nice to round out the mix.
Then have about 4 refractors in the 80-120mm range on EQ mounts perhaps
with solar, moon filter and try to squeeze in on the refractor an
eyepiece with fairly wide field of view for the money like a simple 32mm
1.25" Plossel. Best if these ones have perhaps some basic RA drive on
some so people realize the value of tracking. Pushto encoder system
like SkyCommander on a couple would be really nice for people learning
the sky.
Lastly to round out the ability to have people be able to try things
like they may buy would be to still have a mixed bag of already
existing scopes SJAA has that people have really liked to date in
whatever sizes available and have gotten 'good reviews' from folks who
have loaned them out. Obviously the Ziederscope is the cream of the
crop and obviously keep that baby for semi-experienced people who are
'deep thinkers'.
I liked the idea someone had of recommending some specific chart like
maybe DeepMap or something fairly low-price to help people getting
started. This was not the main topic but was mentioned. I would hands
down for all-around comfort suggest good old SkyAtlas 2000 to the ones
who have the 10" type scopes or larger and for all would highly
recommend DeepMap at any level.
I should think having all the scopes at some site so people don't have
to drive them there may be time intensive to coordinate and would give
folks a distorted idea of what it takes to be into this hobby. I know
I live for packing up my gear at 2-3am ... all part of the experience.
Greg LaFlamme wrote:
> Jay Reynolds Freeman wrote:
>
>
>> Loaner binoculars might be very useful,
>> For serious beginner telescopes, I usually recommend Dobsons near 8-
>> inch,
>> 8-inch SCTs might also be viable as loaners,
>>
>
> Michelle Stone wrote:
>
>
>> In addition to Jay's suggestions, I'd also add 80mm ED refractors on ALT/AZ
>>
>
>
>> heads. These are fabulous for learning the sky.
>>
>
> All great suggestions! Here's two more cents for ya. I especially like
> what I consider medium
> sized dobs. Nothing stirs up a budding amateur astronomer like the view of a
> globular
> cluster seen through a 10-12" Newt on a dob base. Done well it can
> practically force someone
> into this wonderful hobby. M13 looks great in just about any scope but 10+
> inches really
> starts to pull apart those other beautiful but dimmer GC's in a very matter
> of fact way.
> Its an undeniable shock to some. Also, this aperture can show a fair amount
> of detail in
> the showpiece galaxies as well as fields of galaxies making more objects
> available to the
> masses. Set up and tear down can be made easy as well but most of the
> f/4.5-f/5 scope
> are short enough to rest right on the back seat without being taken down.
> If basic
> collimation was taught by the person issuing the scope, that would go a long
> way in removing
> fear or complication.
>
> Sounds like were back to square one.... "a variety of scopes" :-)
>
> GML
>
-- GSSP Telescope List (Updated 5/24/08): http://tinyurl.com/5ob2th TAC Stats Tracking: http://tinyurl.com/5w795e Mailing list preferences: http://seds.org/mailman/listinfo/sf-bay-tacReceived on Fri May 30 22:41:34 2008
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