Hi All,
I've decided on a new telescope for the Mrs to replace the good ol' 10x binoculars, and new to the forums so hoping not to sound a bit stupid
I've been researching the good, bad and ugly for a while now, (predominantly on this forum
), and it would seem as though the advice of what to buy for a beginner is relatively straight forward.
Just to make sure I am not making a mistake before forking out the hard earned cash, I thought I would run my thought processes by you good people.
So, here we go:
Dollar wise - up to a grand.
Type wise - Dobsonian for sure, but space is at a premium in my house (no pun intended!) so I think a reflector or Maksutov would be best.
Brand - Skywatcher seems to have some good stuff.
Use - general point and stare, plus learn to use star charts, plus astrophotography with my Canon EOS450D a little later on.
Mount - At the very least an EQ3-2
Put it all together and the answer seems to be:
Skywatcher SW500 or SW600.
I also think dual drives and hand controller would come in handy for now, and for the future. It's only $100 more so why not.
Given that space is a premium, what about something like the Skywatcher MAK127? Right on the end of the budget though...
In terms of other "goodies" to go with the scope, I had thought about maybe a 2x Barlow or higher power eyepiece to get greater magnification than the supplied pieces. Probably a Barlow from the better eye relief, but would there be anything else I should really have from the start, and I mean *really* have since a grand is at the very limit indeed.
Hopefully I'm on the right path.
Tim