A guy at a star party in Sedona handed me his 8 inch Dob and I finally got why people haul these things out to the desert | Astronomy Photos - Chatter Central
A guy at a star party in Sedona handed me his 8 inch Dob and I finally got why people haul these things out to the desert
Back in October I drove out to a dark sky meetup about 30 minutes outside Sedona with just my phone and a cheap tripod. This older guy named Ray waved me over to his 8 inch Dobsonian and pointed it at Saturn, and when I leaned in I actually gasped out loud. I had seen a hundred astrophotos of Saturn online but seeing the rings with my own eye, live, in real time, hit me in a totally different way. I asked him why he still drags a 40 pound scope out here when his camera rig gets sharper shots, and he just shrugged and said the pictures are for other people. Now I want to know, does anyone here still do visual observing, or has imaging taken over for you too?
Totally get that feeling, seeing Saturn live through a scope hits way different than any photo ever could. Keep doing visual stuff man, it's not going anywhere.