The Jump from 18" to 28"

Ok, I'm considering taking the jump from my 18" Obsession to 28"(Brand)? Looking at Webster with their Kennedy mirror. Anyone else make this jump in aperture? What did you like, dislike? How fast was your new mirror? What eyepieces do you use on the 28"? I plan on keeping it assembled in my unheated dettached garage and traveling twice a year to a dark site in my Chevy Venture mini-van. Gimme all your advice!

Thanks,

Regards,

Mark

I know Steve Kennedy and can attest to the fact that his 28" f/3.66 mirrors are fantastic. I would go with the Webster, it is a great scope.
I have had the pleasure of viewing with Steve and using his 28" personal scope. All of the mirrors that he made that I have used were all excellent.

The jump from 18" to 30" is amazing. You don't look at the same old things. For example, instead of looking at M31's dust lanes, you can see the huge nebula in M31 and the very large individual stars in the nebula. You can't fit M31 in a normal eyepiece.

I use a 41 panoptic or a 40 mm TMB eyepiece most of the time. Then work my way down as seeing and the object require.

My 30 inch is f4.2, requiring a tall ladder.

I have heard a lot about Coma in the faster scopes. I can see it, although in my 16 inch F6 it varies greatly with the eyepiece used. Some of the cheaper ones have a lot of coma at the same power. At high powers, it does not seem to be a factor.

If you use a scope that is f4 with a 40 mm eyepiece, is the coma better or worse than a scope f3 with a 30 mm eyepiece? (same power)

I have noticed a difference in contrast between fast scopes and slow ones. The slow ones rule, especially as the light pollution increases.

I have a 28" f/3.6 Webster telescope and a 16" f/4.5 and the difference is remarkable. I'm a little taller than average, but I use a 3-step ladder and very rarely use the top step with the 28". Most of the time, I'm only 1-2 steps off the ground. Also, I got a ladder with wide steps, which is a lot easier on the feet.

I can say that Kennedy makes excellent mirrors, even at that focal ratio. And the Webster scope is also very nice.

I keep a Paracorr in the focuser on a pretty permanent basis, unless I have the binoviewer in. For eyepieces, a 26mm Nagler is about the longest focal length I use. I mostly use either the 20mm or 17mm Nagler as a "finder" EP.