This is really cool

[forspace2006]

Reinventing the telescope?<br /><br />http://www.tothtelescope.com<br /><br />It really looks intriguing...

 

[rfoshaug]

Probably quite nice for birdspotting at lower magnifications.<br /><br />But with a 69mm objective diameter and 432x magnification, I don't believe you'd see any more detail than you would at half that magnification. This is not due to optical quality (although if the quality <i>is</i> poor, this combined with the fact that it's zoomable would degrade what you'd see as well), but the fact that a 69mm objective just doesn't gather enough light to give optimal image quality at such an extreme magnification. On my Celestron telescope with 150mm lens diameter it's seldom useful to push magnification over 300x, and quite often I'll see planets and other stuff better with around 200x. Another factor here is that the image you'd see through it would be quite dark at such high magnification. Not much a problem in daylight or when looking at the Moon, but could limit its usefulness in darker conditions like when looking at birds on a cloudy day.<br /><br />So in the upper part of the zoom range it would probably get quite blurry and dark, especially for astronomical use.<br /><br />On the plus side, it looks like a portable little thing that could give hours of pleasure at lower magnifications, especially when looking at things here on Earth such as mountains, wildlife, birds etc., and for looking at the Moon.<br /><br /><img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#ff9900">----------------------------------</font></p><p><font color="#ff9900">My minds have many opinions</font></p> </div>

 

[barrykirk]

So, your saying that it would really only be useful for <br />watching things in bright sunlight?<br /><br />Could come in useful at spring break.... LOL

 

[rfoshaug]

<img src="/images/icons/laugh.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#ff9900">----------------------------------</font></p><p><font color="#ff9900">My minds have many opinions</font></p> </div>