[peteyak (Peter)]

First a bit of bio, this is relevant to my questions so bear with me:
I have had an interest in astronomy since my teens, was in a school astronomy club. However, apart from the simplest structures (Orion, Magellanics, Southern Cross, larger planets) I have difficulty finding my way around the night sky, despite some effort with Nortons and various other tools - this kind of pattern perception I have always failed at.

To answer some personal questions posed by Brian Nolan's "General Principles" article:

I'm of medium build with (currently) a reasonable back and moderate strength. I live in a moderately dark sky area of the country but by the ocean. I don't have much sky in my back yard (trees) so I have to travel a few minutes in my small Honda Jazz to find a viewing place. There are no clubs within reasonable distance, and I haven't yet found any viewing buddies in my 900-person town.

Temperamentally I AM easily frustrated, only moderately technically minded, I don't want gadgets and astrophotography, I find the idea of collimation terrifying, I just want to look at cool stuff. I have previously owned a cheap 60mm refractor and a 4" Polaris Refractor (great but long and heavy).



Currently have a 12" Dob (very difficult and scary to move, I find) and a 6" Mak (Black Diamond) on a good alt-az mount.



I have had good experiences with all these but the Dob requires just too much in the way of logistics. I whine about this because when I HAVE used it on the VERY FEW deep space objects I can actually find (i'm pretty much at the Orion nebula level), it has been breathtaking. But fundamentally I am "a plain, unpretentious, “near enough is good enough” kind of guy, someone who wants something to plonk and point, something that gets me star-gazing in under a minute".



What do I want to look at? I want it all. But I would like to be able to FIND more deep-sky objects - nebulae, clusters, galaxies in particular. I enjoy planetary and moon watching very much, but if I had to choose that would be secondary. I realise that wanting something fast to set up, relatively light, and capable of good deep sky stuff is a bit contradictory due to light gathering issues.


For this reason - expanding my repertoire of objects without benefit of good spatial recognition or club assistance - I am considering a GOTO 200mm Mak/Cassegrain type of telescope as a replacement for my other scopes. Money is not too much of a constraint but space in my house definitely is, and a 12" dob plus a 6" Mak is already too much.

I am also considering a pair of 15x70 binoculars, but the issue of FINDING things is still there.

Any ideas, cautions, thoughts, would be welcome.