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Merry Christmas All.
Thanks for all the feedback people , you have all been a great help with me making up my mind on my first real scope. Ive decided to go for the 8" solid tube sky-watcher Dob, I wanted to go the 10" but I figure as my first scope this one will still let me learn, still show me a lot of stuff, and would be a little more manageable with transport not to mention free up some $ as well for some accessories such as collimation tools and the like.
The cost was $550 delivered , 5 yr warranty , and a couple of eyepieces included hope this it not out of the ball park so to speak. I get a 1.25" super 25 and a 10*, dont know what the asterisk is for, it has a 2" focuser Diameter and a 1.25 adapter.
A few more questions of you all if you dont mind, what would be the next item on your shopping list to enhance the viewing pleasure?
I have read both pro's and Con's on having an equatorial mount for my new baby and from what I have read the Dob base is the best for viewing ease and pleasure, but what do you put it on? My main veiwing site is a nice dark beach less than a 1 minute walk from my front door with a lovely NE aspect, do I just plonk it on the sand?, My other home is on a farm 400mt above sea level with no light pollution at all and beautiful clear crisp nights during the colder months but knee high grass and cow and goat turd's everywhere?
Filters and such, Iv'e been reading that the dobs are so good at collecting light that the Moon can become glary through the scope due to too much light. Is this so? Also is it possible to view an eclipse through a dob with the right filters?
Lastly (but by no means the last question I will have) although I have gone for the smaller aperture what will I be able to see in the way of nebulae, galaxy's etc, Iv'e been checking out some of the Pic's people here have been posting (Awsome)and while I realise that most of the colour can not be seen with the naked eye, could I still get some of the detail through a 8", saturns rings and so on? A little colour? I'm sure I can still upgrade if needs be.
This is my first scope, I plan on learning both it and the sky with this one, to see if it still tingles my spine in twelve months time to look back hundreds of millions of years into time will be the test for me, the price tag of this one will be covered when I see the first look on my kids faces the first time they see the moon up close through it. But I would still like to see freaky stuff through it.
Thanks again for all the advice people. Merry Christmas and Happy new year to all
JEFF
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