What Next? Long time lurker - need advice

[humner]

Hello,

I'm a long time lurker and thought I would post as I want some advice on where I should head next with Astronomy.

3 Years ago I was lucky enough to start this hobby after acquiring a Royal Astro LN-4e 100mm reflector telescope. I have attached an older photo of it, but not much has changed!


It has been a joy to use and I have loved using and maintaining it. I've made some non-permanent "modifications" to it by adding my own stepper motor RA drives and other things as I'm a tinkerer with an electronics/mechanical background.

During my time with it I have narrowed down to what I feel I enjoy most about this hobby and that is viewing planets + the moon and an ability to have an easy "grab and go" style arrangement.

The Royal Astro LN-4e has a pedestal style concrete mount/tripod that can be cumbersome/difficult to move around - lately its often left in the living room as an ornament and less used outside because of this.

I feel like I have 2 options.

1 . Keep the OTA and find a modern tripod style mount. This option unfortunately means I will have to get rid of the original pedestal mount as I don’t want to store it. I don’t like the idea of ruining the collectors value of separating the telescope from the mount etc.

2 . Sell the whole Royal Astro LN-4e 100mm with the mount and replace with a 80mm or 102mm Refractor telescope with EQ mount. I only do viewing, I don’t delve into astrophotography, so will only consider longer focal length telescopes.

If I consider option 1 - what EQ size should I go with? EQ2 or EQ3?

If I consider option 2 - is it safe to assume I can expect a similar or better viewing with a modern(sky-watcher or other brand) 80mm or 102mm Refractor telescope?

Thanks for your time.

Rob

[humner]

I didn't attach the photo! Hopefully this works...

[The Mekon]

Welcome to IIS Rob.
Your 4" Royal Astro is a classic - I owned a 3" F16 Royal refractor of the same era and they were a well made scope for the time. Unfortunately time has passed and most modern scopes will exceed their performance by a considerable margin. For example an ED 80 would show just as much as your 4" with much better definition.
The 4" may be worth a small amount to a collector - but there are very few of these. In fact, I think you may struggle to sell this scope at all, so do not be afraid of mounting it on a tripod. Perhaps you could build the tripod yourself.
Other than that I recommend you move to the modern world and buy an ED or Apo refractor - or a 6" or 8" Dob and really see what the universe has to offer using modern 1.25" eyepieces.

[N1]

I agree with John that a 6 or 8" dobsonian would best fill the void this classic will leave. Refractor-wise, I've had great results from my 102 f/11 ED on a manual altaz mount and surveyor's tripod, so a 4" refractor can give a very satisfying experience. I mention the f/11 because I too use it strictly for visual and the long focal length makes it very pleasant to use while still not being too unwieldy.

[humner]

I forgot I had posted this. I still have the scope, but its now time to pass it onto someone.