[Chaos-l] Time for a club loaner scope?

[Jon Stewart-Taylorj]

Hi all.  John Miller said:
 
> I think this is a great idea particularly for 
> folks new to astronomy who are considering a 
> scope purchase and would like to "get their 
> feet wet" before deciding which scope to get.

That was the main reason for the proposal.

> I do however think it would be worthwhile to 
> spend the extra money to go with a 6" Dobsonian.

You have a lot of company.  I thought long and hard about the size of the scope versus the cost (only about an extra $40), size (35" vs 45"), weight (17 lbs vs 34 lbs) finder quality (6x26 correct-image vs. 6x30 inverting), and so on, before choosing the 4.5 as my recommendation.

> I think this gets you a significantly more 
> versatile instrument without sacrificing too
> much on portability.

There's no question the 6" is is a better scope for most purposes.  But, is it enough better to compensate for the extra size and weight.  My scope is a 10", so you know which i'd choose if it were my personal scope.  But, we're looking for a loaner, and compactness and lug-ability count extra.  If i were the one keeping it between "rentals", the 4.5" would be easier to store and transport than the 6".

Dumb question: does anyone have an Orion 4.5 or 6 they could bring to a meeting for us to look at?

I expect more folks will weigh in with their opinions, and i'm sure we'll come to some consensus.  In the end, it's up to all the officers to decide, and there's still Stewart's offer of the 80mm refractor to consider.

Thanks for speaking up.  Everyone else, your thoughts are important too.

J.
-- 
Jon Stewart-Taylor: joncst at earthlink.net; 919-967-2912	
Chapel Hill Astronomy: http://rtpnet.org/chaos/	
Light pollution information: http://www.ncdarksky.org/