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aspheric_cow t1_j4ixcpa wrote

Reply to comment by Redbelly98 in Broke af but I want to show my kid the green comet by FreekBugg

This one will be barely visible to the naked eye, unless it gets much brighter than predicted (always a possibility). You want binoculars.

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otterappreciator t1_j4j3cib wrote

A telescope won’t help here? I have a decent one

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aspheric_cow t1_j4j8dxq wrote

A telescope can help if it has very low power.

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FreekBugg OP t1_j4k4e17 wrote

I am an absolute novice, but if you have the time and feel like it, I would love to know why having a lower power would be beneficial. It seems counter-intuitive, which is why it's interesting. No worries if you don't feel like it. You would likely have to r/explainlikeimfive/ anyway.

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aspheric_cow t1_j4l122v wrote

The aperture (size) of the telescope's main lens or mirror determines how much light it collects. If you use a high magnification, you are taking that finite amount of light and spreading it over a large image, so the image gets dim. This makes it difficult to see dim objects like comets. But if you use too low a magnification, some of the light is wasted, so for example, if you use 8x magnification on an 8-inch telescope, the view is no better than 8x50 binoculars. Worse actually, because you're only using one eye. So for viewing large diffuse objects, binoculars are ideal. If you can afford large astronomical binoculars (like 16x80) those are ideal, but even a common 8x42 works very well (and don't need a tripod).

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Cynapse t1_j4lm8eb wrote

Orion Starblast II 4.5 with the 25mm eye piece too much? We just got my son one for Christmas. Haven’t had a chance to try yet on the comet due to rain.

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