First of all, hi all!
I’m an almost-postgrad astronomy student, hence the semi-beginner. Of course amateur astronomy is completely different to staring at spectra all day, so perhaps that’s more a hindrance than anything. Aside from a $100 dept. store Newtonian (oh the shame ...), I’ve never owned a “real” telescope.
I've been thinking about buying a telescope for too long now, and my budget is at around $3500-4000 (not necessarily looking to spend it all, but if it means a telescope I’ll use for a lifetime I’m more than willing).
I’ve been mainly looking at short-tube apo refractors, although I’m open to any suggestions otherwise. My main considerations are portability and wide field views (the wider the better). I regularly go camping in remote areas and I’d essentially like a grab and go that I can take with me to browse the skies. I’m not really interested in imaging for now. I’d like enough aperture so as to not *completely* miss out on DSOs (around 4"?).
I have a list of telescopes I’m considering, but I’m interested to see what others suggest without the bias of knowing what I’m leaning towards for now ...
- Vi