Astronomy with a Home Computer - Neale Monks

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There can be little doubt that computers revolutionized amateur astronomy through the 1990s in the same way as mass-produced Schmidt–Cassegrain (or SCT) telescopes did in the 1970s and high-quality wide-angle eyepieces did in the1980s. At the time the first reasonably priced SCTs went on sale in the early 1970s, the dominant hobbyist telescope was the equatorially mounted Newtonian reflector.

While a fine instrument optically, this design tends to be large, unwieldy and fiddly to maintain. Advocates of the SCT pointed out the much more compact shape of that design coupled with the fork mounting made it a much easier telescope to use, transport and store, and one that required far less maintenance to work well. Critics pointed out that the average commercially produced SCT was more than twice as expensive as a comparably sized Newtonian, and in the opinions of many delivered poorer images. Nonetheless, many hobbyists placed convenience and ease of use over both cost and sheer optical performance, and the 200-mm (8-inch) Schmidt–Cassegrain remains one of the most popular telescopes for intermediate and advanced amateur astronomers the world over. They may not be the best telescopes in terms of sheer optical prowess, but for many hobbyists they occupy a sweet spot as far as balancing cost, convenience and ease of use are concerned.