Hi everyone,
I started reading this wonderful forum a few weeks ago and have really enjoyed myself browsing through the wealth of information available - can't believe how friendly and helpful people are here. So I finally joined up today
I've dabbled with astronomy on and off all my life but have recently renewed my interest. My previous telescope was a homemade 5 inch refractor on equatorial mount. It suffered from a lot of coma.
I'm now looking to buy a 'proper' telescope and am very interested in the 12'' collapsable dobs from Skywatcher. Most comments I have read about them report that these telescopes are very good value. I think 12'' appeture will be right for me but wanted to get the opinions of others with more experience.
I'm interested mainly in 'deep sky' viewing but also some planet observation. I was wondering what people think about the appeture - will it satisfy me in the forseeable future or should I consider going up to say a 16'' light-bridge. The 16'' is really out of my budget and I am worried about transportability: 95% of my observations will be done in my fairly light-polluted backyard but hope to occasionally get to a dark site. Even in my yard though I will have to manuver it around to access different parts of the sky. Would the 16'' appaeture be wasted in my yard?
many thanks,
bye for now,
Paul.