Hi there, my 9yo son has become obsessed with astronomy and we have exhausted the binoculars and we are ready for a scope. We have been considering our options and i was hoping for a sanity check on the forums
We are in the under $800 price bracket, we are semi rural and will do 90% of our observing in the backyard.
We camp and go bush quite a lot so being able to take the scope every now and then would be great.
We arent all that worried about photography yet (maybe iphone down the eyepiece for now
).
We want to be able to explore everything easily and clearly. Solar system objects, nebulae and galaxies in as much detail as possible.
Am i right in thinking that our next bang for buck is going to be a collapsable dob, saxon/skywatcher brand? I am probably not far off a 10" model for our budget.
I realise there is quite a few options at this price point, especially second hand, but once i move away from the dobsonian (and still maintain decent aperture) i guess it's super low end cassegrain or large and not as portable newtonian?
Does it sound like i am half on the right track?
Appreciate any thoughts or comments
PS: yes we are members of the ASV and we will be going to a few star gazing nights...but in the meantime i am keeping my eye peeled for a bargain