Shihan
11-10-2007, 10:49 PM
(bit of a long post and my first post here, so HI! everyone. :))
About 20 years ago in my early teens i expressed an interest in astronomy and given my rather fickle nature back then (specially for anything that didn't resemble a computer) my parents bought me a (cheap) tasco refractor (the dimensions of which i've forgotten). Despite its many short comings i spent a good 3 years with that scope and got quite alot of enjoyment out of it (looking back, im supprised it survived its encounter with me without so much as a scratch).
After 3 years i'd grown well beyond that scope and decided to get a new one. I remember it being another refractor and that it had an equatorial mount, but not much else. I spent perhaps another 2 years with that and towards the end of my interest got into a bit of astro photography. Which led to my next hobby - photography (which is what i've spent the best part of the last 15 years following).
Sadly though, the lust for photography has died down quite alot in the last year or 2.
However, some months ago a friend of mine returned home from visiting his parents (in the USA) and brought with him a celestron nexstar slt (130 i think) and after having a brief play with it was thoroughly impressed (sky align and goto were very impressive features). My interest to get back in was thoroughly poked. Somehow i managed to resist the urge to hurt my credit card on one of those and have spent the last couple of months just reading and getting back in touch with the hobby (with only binoculars/spotting scope).
After much deliberation i decided to steer clear of the nexstar SLT. I eventually came to the conclusion that i'd be paying 500$ for the mount and $300 for the scope, plus im still reasonably in-touch with finding objects in the night sky so go-to and align aren't really that important when it comes down to it (i'd rather spend the cash on the optics i think). It also appears near impossible to upgrade the tube as you grow.
Im not even remotely interested in astro photography, so that really is not a requirement. I'd love to get a 8" or 10" dob, but i live in the middle of Sydney and i know portability for something that large will probably drive me round the bend. However, i am interested in staying in the deep space area and think perhaps i'm best to go with a reflector of some description.
All that has led me to believe perhaps the sky-watcher 150 or 130 are perhaps my best options for getting back to it (im assuming i'll still be fine with an equatorial mount).
What do people think? are there other 'scopes in that area that might serve me better? Am i on the right track for a decent scope? General advice?
Thanks In Advance all!
About 20 years ago in my early teens i expressed an interest in astronomy and given my rather fickle nature back then (specially for anything that didn't resemble a computer) my parents bought me a (cheap) tasco refractor (the dimensions of which i've forgotten). Despite its many short comings i spent a good 3 years with that scope and got quite alot of enjoyment out of it (looking back, im supprised it survived its encounter with me without so much as a scratch).
After 3 years i'd grown well beyond that scope and decided to get a new one. I remember it being another refractor and that it had an equatorial mount, but not much else. I spent perhaps another 2 years with that and towards the end of my interest got into a bit of astro photography. Which led to my next hobby - photography (which is what i've spent the best part of the last 15 years following).
Sadly though, the lust for photography has died down quite alot in the last year or 2.
However, some months ago a friend of mine returned home from visiting his parents (in the USA) and brought with him a celestron nexstar slt (130 i think) and after having a brief play with it was thoroughly impressed (sky align and goto were very impressive features). My interest to get back in was thoroughly poked. Somehow i managed to resist the urge to hurt my credit card on one of those and have spent the last couple of months just reading and getting back in touch with the hobby (with only binoculars/spotting scope).
After much deliberation i decided to steer clear of the nexstar SLT. I eventually came to the conclusion that i'd be paying 500$ for the mount and $300 for the scope, plus im still reasonably in-touch with finding objects in the night sky so go-to and align aren't really that important when it comes down to it (i'd rather spend the cash on the optics i think). It also appears near impossible to upgrade the tube as you grow.
Im not even remotely interested in astro photography, so that really is not a requirement. I'd love to get a 8" or 10" dob, but i live in the middle of Sydney and i know portability for something that large will probably drive me round the bend. However, i am interested in staying in the deep space area and think perhaps i'm best to go with a reflector of some description.
All that has led me to believe perhaps the sky-watcher 150 or 130 are perhaps my best options for getting back to it (im assuming i'll still be fine with an equatorial mount).
What do people think? are there other 'scopes in that area that might serve me better? Am i on the right track for a decent scope? General advice?
Thanks In Advance all!