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Post by nemesis on May 21, 2008 13:52:30 GMT
You'll only need it if you're going in for photography. I've never used a guided system ever, and Stevie and I would be firm advocates of the view that the fun in astronomy comes from finding things by yourself, and learning the sky in the process. And with a 16" Dob and the correspondingly small FOV (my minimum magnification is over x70) , that's even harder than it seems. However, I wouldn't change it. My advice is to get the biggets Dob you can....the 12" Lightbridge on sale below is just great. I sold mine to stevie, and I regret losing it, as it was the perfect balance between portability aperture, magnification and field of view.
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Post by garyr on May 21, 2008 14:49:15 GMT
All very good and appreciated advice. However I fear that some constraints are going to to limit me in my choice. The first problem is that a telescope of any medium to large size is going to be difficult to store in my tiny house and even more difficult to move from house to garden.
The second issue I may have is the 5 - 8 ft hedges surrounding my narrow garden. I think i would need something that has the advantage of being on a relatively high mount to give it that extra lift.
I am however definitely considering ditching the goto computer stuff as it does really seem to take the fun of discovery out of the whole thing. Besides if I really need to know where something is I still do have my ETX70 to point me in the general direction. I have read that a Maksutov-Cassegrain type scope is a good all round performer. I will definitely try and get to an observing session and hassle some of you to show me your wares so to speak.
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Post by nemesis on May 21, 2008 15:14:33 GMT
The ETX 105 I mentioned earlier is a Mak-Cassegrain, as is the Nexstar 4 you were looking at. best thing is to check out what we use...we've all sorts, and Phil and Mia use the ETX 105, as did Neil for some years.
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Post by NeilP on May 21, 2008 15:19:22 GMT
Could always get a nice refractor on an alt/az mount great grab and go scope
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Post by stevie on May 21, 2008 17:34:42 GMT
The other possibility of course, is to combine the light grasp of a larger mirror with the alt/az mount suggested by Neil. Again, there is a wide choice available. Eamonn has two 6" reflectors, one of which, the TAL 6" reflector, I had the loan of for a while last year. Excellent scope, about 3feet long, 6 inches wide, easy to store and good views. Something like this; www.f1cameras.co.uk/shop.php?id=313&level=
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