|
All this is very subjective but I’ll give my 2c from using a variety of scopes from 3” up to 14” on various mounts…
- 8” aperture I’ve found to be a bit of an entry point to satisfying deep sky observing. Below this there are less targets visible and in far less detail.
- 8”-10” I’ve found to be entry point to satisfying planetary viewing. That’s when you start getting some nice colour and detail visually.
- Above 8” portability starts being a big issue. IMO 8” is still very portable and easy to setup. 8SE is a very easy to use scope but the mount is getting a bit wobbly. The CPC series or LX200 (Meade) is much more stable but also heavier and more bulky.
- the small visual FOV of a SCT has never bothered my (even with my c14) as you can just slee around. Also, a 0.63x reducer works very well even for visual. For AP though the fov can be quite limiting.
- Regarding GOTO, I’ve had lots of fun with and without GOTO, but get much much more time on target with GOTO.
- BY FAR the best push-button GOTO experience is with Starsense Autoalign. Dead easy to set up and start observing quickly.
- All of these AltAz mounts will not be ideal for astrophotography BUT are still ok for short exposure EAA or planetary imaging. If you’re on the road I doubt you’ll be doing multi-night imaging on single targets so this may actually be ideal for you. Having said this the more stable the mount the better the experience.
Hope some of that helps.
|