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by Rapzid 1947 days ago
Disagree. Seeing the rings of Saturn with your own eyes, literal photons hitting your retina that have come from Saturn, is a stunning view. Ditto for Jupiter's storm. Doesn't matter that it's not Hubble quality.
3 comments

I was privileged to see the Shoemaker-Levy comet impact with Jupiter through the Lick 36” Refractor[0] on Mt. Hamilton. I still recall the large black spot on Jupiter from an earlier fragment, and a scintillating final piece of the comet yet to meet its fate, hovering a quarter-radius off the surface. Not something you see every day, but there is definitely magic to seeing it real-time.

[0] https://www.ucolick.org/public/telescopes/36-inch.html

Correct, there are a few objects that are spectacular. However they don't change much in time. So the novelty wears off pretty quickly. After seeing them a couple of times my telescope is now collecting dust in the attic.
Gotta mainline those photons.