John,

I like your style...very well presented! I also happen to agree with
you...almost.

I own 3 telescopes and 2 of them are GoTo. It makes viewing for me a lot
quicker. There are many evenings when I don't have a lot of time for
viewing. On these nights, the GoTo scope saves me the "hunting" time and
allow me to see far more...I appreciate this. However, I tend to agree that
GoTo on a small aperture scope (about 90mm) is in large part a waste. It
seems to me, that a scope which can only "see" a small percentage of objects
in its database, is a waste of GoTo capability and a waste of money. This
is only my opinion.

Al
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Friday, December 10, 1999 12:39 PM
Subject: RE: [M]: ETX-125


> Phil,
>
> Why would anyone want GOTO in a small scope?
>
> Sorry Phil, I am going to unload on you and probably be asked to leave the
> group but here goes.
>
> My credentials, I am not an engineer, I am not a science major of any
sort,
> I do not understand half of what goes across MAPUG, I extract what
pertains
> to my situations and what appeals to me in the future. My desire is to
see
> what I can see, then try to find some more to see. I am not particularly
> adept with computers. My wife and I have enjoyed Astronomy for only about
> three years. We have not spent 30 years developing our expertise. I
> realize that it has all been here, shall we say forever, and it will all
be
> here til the end of time...I have not nor will I be. We have not built
our
> own scopes. We belong to an Astronomical Society that is more concerned
> with Strings and Quarks and the effects of gravity on nanytes (sp) at the
> edge of the universe than looking at the stars. We live in the City of
> Chicago where the skys are milky, the wonderful just increased the output
of
> all the street lights from 75watts to 250 watts. On an Excellent night, we
> can tell (sometimes) that there is fuzz where the Orion Nebula should be.
I
> can read in my back yard at midnight without the aid of a flashlight. I
> have spent two hours with a C-8 tracking and star hoping to the Ring
Nebula,
> while enjoyable and rewarding, I want to see more. I travel. I am home
> weekends. The last time we had a scope out was November 24th. The
Chicago
> weather does not cooperate with my desire to see things. We can go out
with
> the Nexstar 5 and see items that we cannot find otherwise. How can you
star
> hop when you can maybe see 10 stars in the evening sky. It is wonderful
to
> know the night sky like the back of your, in our case, we can't see it for
> the light.
> We have an LX200 12". a C-8 on a wedgepod that is our grab and go scope
and
> the Nexstar that we travel with. They are all important and useful. They
> all fill a place. When we go to visit our relatives and nieces and
nephews,
> they love to see things. Attnetion spans are short, show me, don't spend
> half an hour trying to find a fuzzy cheerio that you call the Ring Nebula.
> We can see the Ring and TELL that it is a Ring. We can find the Omega
> Nebula and the Dumbell Nebula but only because we KNOW that it is in the
> fiield of view and we know what it looks like.
>
> Why a GOTO on any scope, We wnat to see as much of what is out there as we
> possibly can.
>
> It is wonderful to be a long established Astronomy Maven with a heavy
> background in everything that makes everyone more knowledgeable than my
wife
> and I. If the GOTO's are so offensive, buy the other scope, enjoy, set
up,
> star hop, map, do your thing. However, loose the arrogance when it comes
to
> those of us who are still finding our way around. We can find our way
> better because we know what we are looking for and what it is relative
too.
> When what you are looking for is less than a faint fuzzy and it is upside
> down and backwards from the picture or chart that you are looking at at
> midnight without the aid of a flashlight...
>
> Have a Nice Night, I am sure that yours will be more rewarding than mine,
> however I will have seen more objects and shown them to more people and
> gotten more people more quickly interested than you will have in the same
> time...more interest...more scopes sold...more knowledge to share...more
> product development...more products...lower cost items
>
> John
>
>
>

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