I am a greenhorn and only recently seriously thinking of going MAD on Astronomy.
Am thinking of buying either the Meade LX90, LX200 or a 10" Dob.
Trouble is, I cannot make up my mind,,,so would luv as many comments as possible from you all professional backies.
Welcome to IIS David,
$$$$ no problem?
then LX 200.
Not that I have one, but would like one....out of the three.
10"dob - good for a starter,
LX 90 - good for intermediate
LX 200 - need some knowledge....but if you are keen......
What do you want to do ?
Observational/photography....
Cheers
Bartman
I Suggest that you go for a troll though this very Section and look at the headings youll see that there are many people who have asked the question you are asking! Then once you get some questions formulated fire them off and we can all give you our thoughts.
- focus on visual astronomy at first and see how your interest develops. Imaging requires a significantly greater commitment and good skies.
- if you're going to be observing from a light polluted backyard you need a bigger aperture to help combat the light pollution; a 12" along with light pollution filters (UHC, OIII) would be good.
- if you will be travelling regularly to dark sites portability is of greater concern; for example a 10" solid tube dob is much easier to transport in most cars than a 12".
- a 10" at a dark site will show many more objects than a 12" from a suburban yard, but slipping out to the backyard is much more convenient.
- if you're interested in a schmidt cassegrain the new Meade LX80 with 10" scope might be worth considering, after waiting to see if the intial reviews are favourable. Being able to seperate the optical tube from the mount is a very desirable convenience - makes the whole setup more portable and allows use of other scopes on the same mount.
- if you're particularly interested in a more expensive scope (eg. LX200 vs dob) now is a good time to buy since they are likely to be more expensive in the future due to a falling aussie dollar.
