best compact telescope

[paranoid]

I live in a tiny apartment in New York City (enormous light pollution), but I have the telescope itch for a long time.  What would be the best telescope that can be stored in a little coat closet?  I'm thinking I can't do more than 2-3 cubic feet for the OTA and maybe only an alt-az tripod.  Using it in New York may be rare (I would hate to move it around in the subway), but I may rent a car and go somewhere dark every once in a while.  I like looking at solar system objects, but I would love to see DSO if I get a chance.  I've been saving for a long time, so let's say cost is not an issue. 

My background is that I've owned a 6" f/8 old Orion dob, I'm hoping for something that can outperform that.  Also, I couldn't store a dob that big in my place.  I have a couple of decent binoculars including a 9x63 Vixen.  I like them, but I need something more stable than hand-held.

What would you recommend? 

[baggywrinkle]

Collapsable Dob?

Look at the Skywatcher Flextube range.

Or look at a short tube refractor on an AZ mount.

[Zuben Elgenubi]

Given the size constraint, you may find it tough to find a scope that would outperform a 6" Dob. The Celestron Nexstar range offers a compact telescope tube but you also have the mount and tripod to consider.

Good luck finding something that meets your needs. Let us know what you decide!

[Jim Steele]

Have you considered two scopes? (no seriously!) The Skymax 127 for planetary, and a startravel 100 for widened work. Couple these With the vixen porta mount and your sorted for planetary and dso

[andrew63]

A Celestron C6 could be an option - just optical tube and then put on a alt-az tripod if you don't want goto option. Good planetary views and reasonable for DSO.

Celestron C6 XLT Optical Tube Assembly - First Light Optics

andrew

[brantuk]

I'd recommend getting the book "Turn Left at Orion" and have a look at the objects achieved using only a small refractor. It's based on observations made from a back yard in New York with a small refractor (2.5" to 3.5" aperture). It discusses the strengths, weaknesses, and characteristics of the different telescope types in a later chapter - but primarily the book consists of sketches, finding instructions, and extra info about what you can see in the sky as the seasons tick over with a small scope.

I guess the brands to look out for in the States include William Optics, Orion, Skywatcher, and Celestron amongst the many others I'm not aware of. WO and Skywatcher do some very nice refractors in the 66mm to 90mm range. Hope I've helped a bit and welcome to SGL.

[ronin]

Depending on the budget then for compact and general visual I would consider an 80mm, or thereabouts, refractor, the ES 80 Triplet is $600 from Optcorp, there is also an Astro-Tech 90mm at $1300, I have the WO Megrez 90 and it a very good all round scope.

Both the above are triplets.

If you wanted a real compact then the Astro-Tech 72mm at $389 from Astronomics.

Stellarvue do a 102mm at $1045, SV110ED, it is an ED doublet and f/7. May be a little bigger and longer then "compact". However worth considering.

Stellarvue also do a UMA2-M2 mount that looks as if it could pack down into a transportable size, $500.

Sure there are 2 or 3 other SGL people that are in NY, mabe put a post in the intro section titled Hello from NYC and one may pop up and respond. Worth a try.

[paranoid]

If I were to go with a refractor, what is the best quality per inch of glass?  Astro-physics?  Takahashi?  Televue?  William-optics?  Something else? 

[swamp thing]

How about this.

http://www.obsessiontelescopes.com/telescopes/15UC/index.php

[sungazer]

Hi, Have you considered a Solar scope, as pollution is not normally a problem, and they are usually quite small. A Coronado 60mm Ha scope is very portable, and easy to use on an altaz mount. Just a thought. All the best,John.

[ronin]

The 4 mentioned are all good, I suppose best value is the William Optics, although the Astro-Physics ones will be possibly better optics. However I doubt that you would actually see much difference in either performance.

All those makes produce good solid well engineered scopes. All weigh more then you would expect.

If you are in NYC I would almost suggest getting an "inexpensive" 72mm Astro-Tech and seeing how much you actually use it.

I bought my first scope used it for about 6 months then didn't go near it again for about 6 years, I am not the only one to have done this. To me it would make more sense to see how much you use a 72mm at $350 then buy a $4000 TMP SS and do the same.

Another factor is simply at a 72mm is easy to grab and go somewhere but grabbing a bigger scope is less easy. You would use the 72mm a lot more owing to it's ease.

Another option in the dobsonian line are the "portable" ones. They are in a "box" and are assembled at whatever location you go to. Sure one of the NY members on here has one and rates it highly.

Don't know who produces them in the US, as an example look at: http://sumerianoptics.com/

For just astro use and not something else you could I suspect use within NY that could be a good choice. They are not the thing you could set up on a balcony to look at Jupiter for example.

You have missed by a week (April 12-13) one of the best astronomy shows at Suffern. I presume that you were not aware of it so did not go.

[CodnorPaul]

sct would make the most sense to me - aperture and compact portability in one package