|
I think there is a lot of wise experience being shared in the other posts.
I think there is an interesting question here of how to progress from what you already have to where you might eventually want to go, within your circumstances.
It may be that the first step is changing to a lighter, quality mount and tripod to get you out observing more with what you already have. That might achieve the original and most important objective.
After achieving this, you might later find that you want a larger aperture to see even more of the planets and DSOs. So, a second step might be getting a larger aperture to put on that mount to maximise what you can see.
So, initially choosing a lighter, quality mount and tripod that can also handle the weight of a future larger aperture may therefore be important. For example, a Celestron C8 SCT is around 5-6kg, and a C9.25 SCT is around 9kg. I hear that harmonic mounts are generally good at handling these types of weights.
|