Pushing the limits - why?

Let's see - this morning I was able to detect M51, a pair of colliding galaxies about 18 million light years away, with just 14X on the 80mm ED. It surprised me. On the other end of thngs, I came darned close to "splitting" the double double with just 80X on the same instrument - so I tried to go to 132X and had difficult finding the target.

Having done these two things I had to stop and ask myself "why?' I don't have any clever insights or profound answers - just a sense of frustration with my own desire to push the limits. This little 80mm scope does a wonderful job at what it should do - which is give me real sharp, high contrast, wide field views at 20X - and some very nice views at 40X, and 80X. I should stop there. I shouldn't try to go lower, I shouldn't try to go higher. That's why I have the scope. To see context. Detail can be grasped in other, more powerful instruments, designed for the task.

And why the heck do I want to barely detect a galaxy 18 million light years away? I can see some very nice galaxies at half that distance and even closer. And why fuss with trying to split the double double? Pushing this scope to its limits? A much nicer view can be had by simply looking at the "horse and rider" - Mizar,and it's bright companion Alcor, in the handle of the Big Dipper. Look at these stars at 40X and you have a gorheous view of two bright stars, a third fainter one - and in kissing distance of the brightest star, a close companion. It's a wonderful sight. Be satisfied, I tell myself. Slow down. Dance with the light - not a jitterbug, but a waltz.