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Hi Brad,
No one scope is truly able to do what you are wanting. All
scopes are compromises, which is why many of us have a number of them.
Of the three you mention, the 8" Newt on the HEQ5 Pro Go To
is, in my opinion the best compromise.
The 6SE is a little small for deep sky work, and being on an
altazimuth mount, it is of limited use for imaging due to field rotation.
The 12" dob is good for deep sky work[albeit without tracking
ability], but is of very limited use for quality imaging.
The 8" Newt has enough aperture to give pretty good deep sky views, and at f5 is quite fast, so will allow shorter exposures than a
smaller scope. Also, the mount, in experienced hands, is capable of
very accurate tracking, which is essential for quality imaging. Also,
the mount can handle a small guide scope and autoguider if need be.
Incidentally, you ask how useful for imaging one of the scopes
would be, as it does not have" go to". Go to is of no benefit for imaging.
All it does is go to the selected object and then track it well enough
for visual work. It doesn't track anywhere near well enough for serious
imaging. The scope requires guiding during long exposures, either
by the scope operator using the hand controller to operate the motors,
or by an autoguider attached to a small guide scope attached to the
main scope.
Hope this helped.
raymo
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