Space is indeed one of the key issues, but it seems an upright Dobsonian can alleviate that concern. Let's consider Dobsonians for a moment then.
My price point will cover a 10" truss/collapsible model, and maybe even a 12" solid tube type (although I'll need to look into that a bit more). For backyard viewing, in the outer city suburbs, which is better? Truss or solid tube?
Are there any ongoing maintenance issues with a Dobsonian? e.g. polishing mirrors periodically?
If I want to use it for astrophotography, what sort of changes do I need to make as compared to the standard base of the unit, and what might I expect to pay? My reasoning is that at least with a Newtonian and equatorial mount I have some astrophotography capability right out of the box but it would seem that with a Dobsonian I have none.
I also wonder what shipping going to be like from Sydney to Adelaide...
There's a seperate issue as well I'd like to ask about. A colleague of mine says that if you want to see lots of things, I'll need a Go-To otherwise it will be just too difficult to go out and use a scope in "point and shoot" mode and expect to see much. Does this make sense? Is it unreasonable to expect to just take the unit out the back, look around the sky and be blown away but what is really out there? At some point you have to draw the line and say I can't spend more than X dollars.
Thanks to all.
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