|
Thank you again, Brian and Nick. I have a penchant for planetary views, Double Stars, Planetary Nebulas. I should have mentioned this and I apologise for not doing so. As I have made the mistake of doing so in other forums and forgot to do so here.
Also the moon and The Messier objects. I have seen all the planets before, Mercury visually one early morning on my way to work. It was a beautiful sight with Venus up as well, just before sunrise. Though I have not identified Pluto. It was in the field of view. But just another white dot amongst many.
Brian has mentioned one of my worst fears. Collimation, I always find myself going around in circles. Hence the idea of strapping the OTA in its case to the queen size bed. When we are on the road.
When I owned my old C8 with wedge and setting circles. It took me two hours to drift align. I was using the belt of Orion and I was pretty pleased with myself. I even saw my first galaxy after tapping the tube. It was just a faint fuzzy and took up all the field of view with my 26mm Celestion Plossl. I thought what is doing something wrong. I am sure I should be on it and I was. It just required a small tap on the tube for the faint fuzzy to stand out from the blackness of the surrounding night sky.
Nick thank you for your comment on the Dob. Though I think I m sold on the Evolution with StarSense. Punching in an object and having the telescope slew to the appropriate location seems so appealing. I have seen the Dumbell Nebula and seeing that for the first time was as exciting as seeing Saturn for the first time as well.
I know the Schmidt Cassegrain is a compromise telescope. Though if the stars are like little pearls as has been suggested on another forum. I think I am sold. I just needed to hear it from some one else.
Money is not really a hindrance. Though I would prefer to save up for it instead of just jumping into our cash reserves. Which I might end up doing.
Binoculars. As my wife Shelley enjoys bird watching. I purchased her a nice set of 8.5 x 42 Swarovski EL binoculars. I must say she is very happy.
I am currently resurrecting my 35mm camera film equipment after 26 years of neglect. Another project which I am enjoying slowly. I just could not justify the expense for a new digital setup for fauna and flora. Though this may change with time.
I remember the old Portaballs had very good optics. I will have to check to see if they are still around.
The critical desire is for easy setup and viewing after cool down. If anything will put me off from a new Schmidt Cassegrain. It will be Collimation. There are more accessories locally available than there was back in 1989.
Again, thank you both Brian and Nick.
Warm regards,
Paul.
|