|
Hi and welcome to the forum!
You can't go too far wrong with a 12" scope for deep sky and planets: it will serve you for many years; but it is a big telescope, so you want to make sure you are willing to lug it around in the car etc.
Go-to is great if your budget allows, and I see that Bintel have a very good special on the Orion XT12 at the moment...
If you want one that is a bit easier to move around, SkyWatcher make a collapsible go-to: and Shell-lap in Mile End have one in stock at present according to their web-site. Might be worth a look to get an idea of size at least (but their listed price is a lot more than the Bintel special!). Perhaps you could bargain a bit... (Andrews have this too, but at a much better price!)
(They did have a slightly used 16" go-to there for a good price too, but I think that is bit too much for a beginner!)
The other Adelaide shop where you can look at telescopes is Adelaide Optical in Grenfell St. Matthew Lovell at Telescopes and Astronomy is in Adelaide as well, but he operates from home with no show-room. Might be worth a call though.
Whoever you talk to, make sure you get a couple of eyepieces that will give you a range of magnifications so you can do planetary viewing as well as wide-field stuff. Everyone will give you different answers about eyepieces, but I think it is useful to have 3 to start with, looking at around say 50-80x, 100-120x and 200-250x.
Go-to is certainly not essential: I have used a home-made 12" dob for many years, and I am quite happy to push it around. It can be a bit of a pain at high power, but you do get used to it.
If you want to have a chat to a local, I am happy to talk- so just drop me a PM to get in touch.
All the best, and good luck!
- Dean
|