[Luca.C]

Hi,

my name is Luca and I am from Melbourne.

I've been interested in astronomy for a very long time, and now it's time to finally get a telescope, though I am still quite confused.

Good news is that, given that this is my wife's bday present for my 40th, the budget could reach approx $1,500.

As of the choice of the telescope, I was hoping to get some
advices from you guys.

First of all, the idea is to start with basic sky watching with a focus on deep sky (galaxies and nebulae) and later on upgrade parts of the telescope for astrophotography. So first feature would be upgradeabilty.

Second feature is transportability. I live in an apartment and having a big telescope would be an issue. Also I want to keep it away from my kids reach. Plus the area where I live has lots od light pollution so I assume I will have to travel in dark areas.

In terms of set up of the telescope, on one side I think I would be patient enough to align it, but on the other side I am concerned about getting frustrated if this becomes challenging. I really don't want to end up putting the telescope in a store!

Thanks for any suggestion!