I am looking at returning to Astronomy after a 20 year absence. My previous scope was a Celestron 8" which did a sterling job till I found I wanted more. There was an issue with stars flaring. Possibly due to my lack of collimation skills at the time or lack of cool down time from a hot Mallee environment.
I am after something portable with crisp views of planets when they are up, open clusters, multi-coloured doubles, I may get into double star viewing, I am not sure. Taking the odd pic of a nebula (Messier), 35mm or digital. My only camera is a 30 year old Pentax MG. Something that is also relatively easy to align. I had a trick at my mother in-laws place in Swan Hill to align the Celestron's wedge with the toilet vent pipes of the house north of us. that gave me a drift free night. it took me two hours to discover this on the first night setup.
Money is possibly no object, though I do want to be wise. Something that can fit in the boot (fold down seats) of a Falcon. I like the idea of a 5" Takahashi (are six inches portable?) though keep swing back to the modern day CATs. The Tak CN212 looks like it ticks all the boxes though I have told it is too finicky in collimating and cleaning. Especially when swapping between modes (cassegrain and newtonian) something I am told you should not do. A scope designed for a permanent dust free setup.
Open for advice as I roam between a rural (Swan Hill) and semi rural (Dandenongs) environments, wet and dry. Thus I find it a little difficult to attend astronomy clubs or parties.
I have not ruled out William Optics though know nothing about them or any others. Astro Physics evidently have such a long lead time I think that maybe impractical. I keep mention the big refractor manufacturers, though Meade and others is in there with a chance.
Kind regards,
Paul
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