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Old 13-12-2006, 10:06 AM
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Robert_T
aiming for 2nd Halley's

Robert_T is offline
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Australia
Posts: 2,959
aperture IS everything

seriously though it would be difficult as Mike points out to do all the things you want to do (well) with one OTA. I think the closest is the 8in SCT. This is ideal for lunar and planetary work, gives you the extra light gathering over the refractors and can have a focal reducer fitted for use in deep sky photography (brings F ration down from F10 to F6.3 or F3.3). It will also be a lot steadier on the mount than an 8in newt.

the central obstruction reduces contrast compared with refractors, but you will see more detail because of the greater aperture.

cheers,
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