Heard someone at the hobby shop say I was 'doing backyard astronomy wrong'

I was buying a red flashlight at Hobby Lobby and this guy behind me goes 'you know you need at least a 6 inch Dobsonian to see anything real'. Like okay buddy, I've been using my dad's old 60mm refractor for 3 years and I can still spot Jupiter's moons just fine. Why do people feel the need to gatekeep something as simple as looking up at the sky?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_felix1mo agoMost Upvoted

@jake_hall88 totally get it, same thing happened to me with my 80mm at a star party last year.

jake_hall881mo ago

Call him out if he's actually telling people they can't enjoy stargazing with a basic scope. But let's be real here, a 60mm refractor from 20 years ago is gonna show you way less detail than a decent Dobsonian, especially on faint stuff like nebulae. If you're serious about seeing more than just bright planets and the moon, there's a reason people recommend bigger gear - it's not gatekeeping, it's just physics at work.