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I'd say the most important factors for astrophotography are in order: 1. Location and weather 2. Optics 3. Sensor, tracking and post processing They can't c

I'd say the most important factors for astrophotography are in order: 1. Location and weather 2. Optics 3. Sensor, tracking and post processing They can't control the first, but it seems they put everything in (3) instead of (2). The telescope is a 15cm refractor. I don't know any amateur astronomer using a refractor, let alone one with this budget. Refractors introduce further optical aberrations compared to first surface mirrors, usually collect less light and have shorter focal lengths for the same telescope size. Is there something I'm missing?

orbital-decay 3y ago
More likely it's a marketing ploy to gather a nerd army to shout at them and attract the less caring audience to their another overpriced product. Does this Hyperia even exist at all? In this market, it's more typical to rebrand an existing proper device than to make something like this. If it really does, it's just a pitch for people with more money than astrophoto knowledge.
kevin_thibedeau 3y ago
This is a Veblen good. It doesn't have to excel at anything.
jjav 3y ago
> I don't know any amateur astronomer using a refractor, let alone one with this budget. Refractors are very popular in amateur astronomy and astrophotography. https://www.cloudynights.com/forum/67-refractors/ https://www.cloudynights.com/forum/67-refractors/ The pricing on this Hyperia is pretty silly though. You can get a Takahashi 150mm refractor for ~$15K (well, if you can get one) which surely is far better quality optics than this unknown brand, and adding all the extras for feature parity should still come in at half the price or less.
- DeinFreund 3y ago
  Thanks for the correction! Was probably my local bias tending to either cheaper reflectors or using public observatories.
- rerdavies 3y ago
  Apparently, they are very popular. But why are they very popular?
  - gliptic 3y ago
    Very good contrast. Usually no need for collimation. No diffraction spikes (well, SCT don't have that either).
  - joelshep 3y ago
    In my experience, a decent refractor just does what it needs to do, without drama. There's no mirror to collimate, no mirror to flop. Once the imaging train is dialed in, you let it cool for a bit, you focus, you take pictures. It just works. I confess to missing a reflector's diffraction spikes, but the unobtrusiveness of a decent refractor is almost luxurious given everything that can go sideways with astro-imaging.
    - jjav 3y ago
      Agreed. I debated for a long time but went with refractors (StellarVue). The simplicity and quality are nice, and as you say it just works. I'll probably get a large reflector at some point, maybe, but refractors are great for simple high quality. Astrophotography is my primary interest.

orbital-decay 3y ago

More likely it's a marketing ploy to gather a nerd army to shout at them and attract the less caring audience to their another overpriced product. Does this Hyperia even exist at all? In this market, it's more typical to rebrand an existing proper device than to make something like this. If it really does, it's just a pitch for people with more money than astrophoto knowledge.

kevin_thibedeau 3y ago

This is a Veblen good. It doesn't have to excel at anything.

jjav 3y ago

> I don't know any amateur astronomer using a refractor, let alone one with this budget. Refractors are very popular in amateur astronomy and astrophotography. https://www.cloudynights.com/forum/67-refractors/ https://www.cloudynights.com/forum/67-refractors/ The pricing on this Hyperia is pretty silly though. You can get a Takahashi 150mm refractor for ~$15K (well, if you can get one) which surely is far better quality optics than this unknown brand, and adding all the extras for feature parity should still come in at half the price or less.

DeinFreund 3y ago
Thanks for the correction! Was probably my local bias tending to either cheaper reflectors or using public observatories.
rerdavies 3y ago
Apparently, they are very popular. But why are they very popular?
- gliptic 3y ago
  Very good contrast. Usually no need for collimation. No diffraction spikes (well, SCT don't have that either).
- joelshep 3y ago
  In my experience, a decent refractor just does what it needs to do, without drama. There's no mirror to collimate, no mirror to flop. Once the imaging train is dialed in, you let it cool for a bit, you focus, you take pictures. It just works. I confess to missing a reflector's diffraction spikes, but the unobtrusiveness of a decent refractor is almost luxurious given everything that can go sideways with astro-imaging.
  - jjav 3y ago
    Agreed. I debated for a long time but went with refractors (StellarVue). The simplicity and quality are nice, and as you say it just works. I'll probably get a large reflector at some point, maybe, but refractors are great for simple high quality. Astrophotography is my primary interest.