Hello all,
About to buy my first telescope and have spent many hours researching but seem to now be lost in too much information and would love some advice/reassurance (there are a lot of "first scope" type posts here). I just want to get lost in the sky at this stage, stare at the moon and whatever else I can see and feel like an ant must on earth. I installed Stellarium on my pc some time ago and although hopeless at remembering the names of things, it still fascinates me.
In amongst all the reading I have read over and over to get a Dobsonian to start with so have kind of settled on a 6” Skywatcher (I think an 8" would be too big for me but am open to suggestions) for the amount of money I want to spend at this early stage of a potential hobby. I live on a farm several km from very small towns. I don’t know of any clubs in the area, or even anyone else with a telescope.
I love my amateur photography which was taken up a notch a month ago when a friend who is a professional photographer invited me to join him in on an astrophotography session.
First and foremost I’d like a Telescope I can see stuff with. If it came to the choice of 2 similar telescopes but only one had the potential to be used with a camera further down the track then I’d probably pick that one. However my brain is all done in now and I cannot start researching that as well. I can spend more money at a later date if I become addicted but I think now I need to just get in and get something and learn more about what is ideal for me (plus it might bring rain
).
My questions are in order of importance:
1) Is a 6” Dobsonian a good choice for a beginner?
2) Can a Dobsonian be attached to a tripod further down the track?
3) Do these have the potential to attach a DSLR camera further down the track?
Many thanks for any help for this overloaded brain.