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Old 27-11-2007, 09:47 PM
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Omaroo (Chris Malikoff)
Let there be night...

Omaroo is offline
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Hobart, TAS
Posts: 7,639
Something like the following from Andrews (www.andrewscom.com.au) would be a strong contender if you wanted maximum aperture, quality and a GOTO EG mount. You couldn't go wrong. I have the 8 inch (C8) version of this and it's a fantastic scope. Plenty here have the 9.25 and both are considered "legendary" scopes by some. My C8 I can lift on to the tripod with one hand.

Others will argue to go with a Newtonian - which you can do but if size matters then a SCT is possibly a better bet for you.

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C9.25-SGT 9.25" Go-To XLT
235mm x 2350mm

$3699.00
AUD 9.25" aperture Schmidt-Cassegrain OTA with Starbright XLT coatings, 6 x 30 finderscope, 25mm E-Lux eyepiece (94x mag.), 1.25" star diagonal, 1.25" visual back (C11 SCT has 2" visual back), "The Sky - Level 1" CD ROM, Heavy duty CG-5, German equatorial mount with dual-axis slew motors and a computerised hand controller which has a 40,000+ object database, car battery adaptor, rugged adjustable height 50mm dia. steel leg tripod with centre brace and accessory tray, plus two 5kg. counterweights.

The 8 inch version (C8) is $2,699 - which is right in the ballpark. You could then get a DSLR and a Focal Reducer to top it off to four grand and have a very nice platform.

Go to the main Andrews site, click on "telescopes" from the left-hand menu, then "Celestron".

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OR

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Get the equivalent Meade LX90GPS 8" SCT from Bintel (https://www.bintelshop.com.au) for $2,950, but then you'll have to employ a wedge ($289) to make it an equatorial mount. It's a slightly more difficult option. Failing that you could get an 8" tube assembly for around $2,000 and then get a separate Skywatcher HEQ5 Pro V3 GO-TO for an additional $1,799.00
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Last edited by Omaroo; 27-11-2007 at 10:07 PM.
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