Hello fellow stargazers & astrophotographers,
I've recently joined after seeing IIS noted in Sky & Space mag and lurking the forums for a while. I'm located in Perth and have been interested in astronomy and astrophysics since quite young. This is a great site and I look forward to joining the community here (though I'm a relatively quiet poster). I currently have a small Russian 3" newt (which I bought in Moscow to observe whichever comet was apparent in '97 and is built like a battleship) which has served me well but the time has come to go bigger and better.
After much review of this and other sites/forums I've narrowed it down to a choice of 2 scopes:
Meade LXD75 8" SC (from StarOptics, Bintel or AdelaideOptical)
Celestron C8-SGT + XLT (from Andrews Communications)
Given where I live I need good portability so a Dob is out and even a classic newt is a bit long so the SCT is my preferred option. I would like Goto and a GEM mount (been there done that with the manual finding of small fuzzy objects) for later astrophotography. My main use will be visual but I'm keen to play with photography later, primarilly planetary to start with then who knows. I understand the mount is "king" in that respect but I don't wish to go crazy just yet in $$. From what I've read either of these would provide a good introduction I think so I am interested in what people here might think, particularly if they have one of these.
From what I've read the Celestron mount does not offer PEC whereas the LXD75 does along with a "high precision mode". I also cannot ascertain as to whether the Meade one comes with the UHTC coating or not. Not sure if either of these are issues. Both come with a 2" tripod and the Meade can accept both 1.25" and 2" pieces.
I'm also interested in what you think is a good set of starter accessories (eyepieces, filters, etc). At the very least I'll be getting a moon and solar filter (I like to view the sun also) and an appropriate t-mount for my Nikon 35mm film SLR. Maybe an extra/ultra wide and a Barlow too. Views on a reasonable starter CCD would be appreciated.
I know this is a lot for a new guy to ask on his first post so I won't be upset if you don't answer everything.
To start with some opinions on the scopes would be great.
Thanks everyone for your time.
Cheers,
Geoff.