Moving On

Hi Jonathan,
You'll definitely see more in a 10" scope, with objects such as globular clusters you will so the most differance, they will go from been fuzzy blobs to been someway resolved into stars on the most part, and objects like the orion nebula will appear brighter and more detailed. I say go for it !

Like John Dobson said, if it fits into your back garden then its too small, if you cant lift it then its too big.

Like John Dobson said, if it fits into your back garden then its too small, if you cant lift it then its too big.

Now that I've never heard before, but I like his advice!

I bought a 10" Dob in September - the weather has been mostly dire since but I have seen a few things through it. Compared to my 6" LXD75 Newtonian the biggest difference was M42 which looks like a not terribly well defined fuzzy patch in the 6" but shows real structure in the 10" - a dramatic difference!

There would be much less difference with planets etc where magnification is more of a factor than sheer light gathering ability.

I currently own a 6'' SCT on a cg-5 mount and for some reason I fell for a 10'' Newt on the same mount. What I like to know is would jumping from a 6'' sct to a 10'' newt make a good choice??

Short answer is yes if portability and weight are not issues. A jump of 4 inches in aperture is probably the recommended minimum one considering the cost and benefits of any upgrade although strangely going from 8 inches to 10 inches is a very noticeable jump (and going the other direction as I noticed when moving down from a 10 inch SCT to an 8 inch SCT).

The extra resolving power of the 10 inch will be very noticeable. Its ability to reveal vast numbers of stars in globulars, which through the 6 inch, were unresolved blobs or blobs with just peripheral stars resolved. The large open clusters will suddenly reveal dozens more stars and patterns than formerly seen. Nebulae will appear brighter, perhaps larger, more defined shape etc. Previously unseen galaxies will be observed while others will appear brighter and with more defined shape. If you enjoy double star observing then you can split closer doubles and detect component star colours better. The list of benefits goes on and on.

Unfortunately I had to go down in aperture because the weight of my Meade 10 inch SCT was just too much and it started to languish in its box. For me the 8 inch is fine in terms of aperture combined with weight.