First scope!

[Hemi]

Dear members, thank you for your help in advance.

I have been an arm chair astronomer for 30 yrs. I have a basic knowledge of the sky, and have used binoculars on and off. I have moved to the northern suburbs of Darwin, and am now in a position (very excited!) that time, family commitments and money will allow the purchase of a telescope.

Money is not really the limiting factor for this scope (in that $8000 should be ample for a first scope!). I have read a lot of the relevant threads on this site and others. An idea of the first scope is crystallizing but I am still confused.

My needs(wants!)

1. Good all rounder, planets, moon, deep space object.
2. Longevity, ie room to grow into over many years
3. Some potential for basic astrophotography in the future
4. Manageable for 1 person, although most likely will be fixed in back yard mostly
5. Gps and goto

Initial thoughts were 12" lx 200, but after reading everything i can, it sounds a little ambitious, crazy even?

So basically, I really like and want the idea of a Meade lx/ls range...8,10,12", but my head is telling me...get an 8" dobs!

Any help, the specific the better (as I've read most of the general guides), I do intend to go to a Darwin astro club observation night for some hands on help and advice as soon as time allows.:thanx:

[Brian W]

Your head is giving you good advice. Right up to astrophotography an 8" or bigger dob mounted Newtonian fits your requirements.

One way of aiding your choice would be to actually try to move one of those big Meade's... they are heavy and awkward.

For the money you are thinking of spending you could even have one of the bigger Orion dobs with all of the bells and whistles which could be used for limited astrophotography.
Brian

[torana68]

Hemi??? hmmm

1. Good all rounder, planets, moon, deep space object.

planetry and deep space can be specailst scopes for example a F4 for deep space or a F15 for planets . something like an F6 is a good all round start. (8" or bigger at your budget)

2. Longevity, ie room to grow into over many years

probably go 10" or 12" depending on stuff. stuff being height issues and weight issues. there is probably other stuff but ive been painting all day so the brain is no at its sharpest right now.

3. Some potential for basic astrophotography in the future

this means a expensieve GEM and a scope designed to suit, with the budget you have you may stretch to a gem mounted 8' like https://www.bintelshop.com.au/welcome.htm PLUS a camera etc you can spent a lot here, a real lot... id leave it till later.

4. Manageable for 1 person, although most likely will be fixed in back yard mostly

12" may be doable but best you head off to a local club and see if someone has one you can get the feel of... bigger is better (applies to engines, boats and telescopes ONLY). really buy some good shares, get an 8" dob and see how you go, when you have been doing it a while sell some shares and get something biger or a GEM for the 8" and a camera..... etc
Roger

[casstony]

10" LX200 is not such a bad idea at the moment since it comes with a solar Ha telescope thrown in until end of December (have to move quick).
Since the tube/fork assembly weighs over 60 pounds only consider this scope if you have no back/joint problems and you're fairly strong, or if you can wheel the scope on a trolley or mount it in an observatory.

While the LX scopes are nice to use, a 10" dob is 1/5th of the price and more portable (tube weighs 30 pounds) and both scopes will show essentially the same view at the eyepiece.

[Hemi]

Thanks for the replies so far, i did have my heart set on a 12" lx200, but I think it is way too unrealistic for a first scope. Do the goto dobs work? R they any good?

[Osirisra]

My skywatcher flexi 14" dob has the Synscan goto and tracking on it and it works great and only being half the price of my LX90 SCT. It sure is a big scope and bit of a pain to pull apart and move about but it is worth it once it is setup.
The best thing about the tracking on the synscan dob is you can still slew/move manually and it still stays tracking on target which is some thing that a lot of tracking scopes cannot do like my LX90 for example.

If i could only have one scope it would surely be a dob with tracking, for what you get for the price they are awesome units.

[acropolite]

If I had a budget of $8000, and a wish list the same as yours here's how I would spend it.

Meade 12 inch Lightbridge (or similar) truss dob. $1200 Alternatively if portability isn't an issue you could opt for the 12 inch solid tube dob and save around $400.
Losmandy G11S $3499
Argonavis & encoders to suit G11 & dob. $1400
Orion Starshoot Autoguider package. $599
Canon EOS 550 DSLR (Grey import body Only from DWI for example) $720
Canon 70-200 F4L lens grey import $658

That all ads up to $8068, given that you would probably spend over $6000 with one supplier, you could reasonably expect that they would throw in at least couple of extra suitable quality eyepieces (e.g. Orion Stratus)

What you would get for your money.

Dob. The optics and portability of the 12 inch truss dob would be ideal for your needs. Optically, 12 inches seems to be a sweet spot in terms of mirror quality.

The Argo-Navis will give push to capability to the dob, as well as push to for the G11 for imaging. Using the same pointing device on both would minimise the learning curve and any confusion swapping between platforms.

The EOS550D would be adequate for imaging combined with the 70-200 lens as well as providing you with an excellent terrestrial camera, you could alternatively go for an ED80/Field Flattener combo but the initial cost would be higher and the flexibility less. If you already own a Canon DSLR I'd be tempted to opt for the 400mm F5.6 Lens over an ED80/Flattener setup, the 400mm f5.6 would be as fast, close to the same focal length and better corrected (see this thread (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=35126)).

I haven't mentioned the GPS requirement, it's simply not that important, a rough location of Lat/Long to the nearest 100km or so is all that's needed and you can get an accurate lat/long from google earth.

You would also need some dew straps, controller and a couple of plugpacks.