Cosmic Geoff

You could use any mount you like, provided it accepts the Vixen style dovetail rather than the Losmandy dovetail used with bigger and heavier scopes and mounts.

You could use an alt-azimuth manual mount, an alt-azimuth GoTo mount, a manual equatorial mount, an equatorial with RA drive, a GoTo equatorial, or a heavy GoTo equatorial suitable for imaging later.  YOUR CHOICE.

The choice of new mounts under £200 that are worth buying is somewhat limited.  If you can find one, a steel-tripod AZ-4 would make a simple and sturdy grab'n go mount.  Or consider an EQ-5,  available new or used as manual or GoTo and with upgrade kits readily available. This is a mount that is good for use with all sorts of smaller telescopes up to a 203mm f5 newtonian.

Either scope would serve well if you want to cover visual observing and also planetary imaging.   If for visual only, there are other solutions that would be a lot cheaper and lighter.  And if you want to do wider field deep sky imaging, you need a different scope.

The expensive and heavy CGEMII equatorial mount will only come into its own if you want to do long exposure astrophotography, an enterprise which requires a lot of skill and patience, as well as deep pockets. 

If you just want to do visual observing and planetary imaging, you could consider an alt-azimuth mount like that in the Celestron CPC range, which would be somewhat lighter, cheaper and easier to set up compared with the CGEMII.

It looks like an instructional toy rather than a usable telescope.

https://ensoptical.co.uk/

I bought a low-priced C8 SE from them. I am still using it.

Like Louis D says, do not even try to buy one telescope that does everything.  The requirements differ widely. You can merge the visual and planetary imaging hardware to a large degree in that a planetary imaging outfit will also be good for visual, but the requirements for deep space astrophotography are quite different.

3 minutes ago, wibblefish said:

I currently have a standard Sky-watcher stock 10mm and 25mm I would need to check exactly what though, the 25mm seems fine (to my eyes anyway) though I haven't had a go with the 10mm yet.

You should think of replacing the 10mm at least.  You need plenty of magnification for viewing planets like Saturn. Whether the scope will deliver a usable image at high power is something you will have to find out.

I don't know what eyepieces you got with the 90/660, but it could be worth supplementing them with a set of decent quality eyepieces to give a range of magnifications, and also a x2 Barlow lens. 

As for the finder and diagonal, I suggest you hold fire unless the existing ones are giving you a problem.

Why do you think that updating the firmware is going to be a cure-all? It seems this is the first resort of many users, but you should read the small print for the update and see if it mentions the issue you are trying to fix.  If it does not, it is better to leave well alone.  The C6 SE is a mature product, and so it is less likely that it needs any firmware upgrade to make it work properly.

Having Venus offered as a go-to object when it is below the horizon means you have the time/date set wrongly for some reason.

With Xmas approaching, a lot of people here are posting what is basically the same question - how to choose a great gift telescope without spending a lot of money.  The reply to each is much the same - read the replies to similar posts and look on the site of forum sponsor FLO at their beginners' telescopes, so you can see what a good beginner telescope looks like (even if it is out of stock).

The whole point of a CPC is the powered GoTo mount. It is not really worthwhile to use it without power, but you can unlock the altitude and azimuth clutches and reposition it by hand, but you will not have the slow-motions that would make a scope with a 2metre+ focal length usable. If a powered mount is not what you want, sell the outfit, get a similar OTA and put it on a manual mount.

The GoTo is actually quick and easy to align once you have done it a few times.

Astronomy is not a cheap hobby, and £100 to £150 will not go far.  The Moon looks great through any telescope, but views of the planets may disappoint.  I suggest you  find and  read the "What can I expect to see" thread here.  There are a few outfits for under £150 that are much better than toys, but it might be wise to discuss the purchase with your girlfriend.  There are secondhand bargains to be had, but you need to be able to tell the difference between a good buy and a dud.

An alternative is a pair of binoculars.

The C8 SE is one of the cheapest 8" SCT GoTo packages you can buy, and despite the price of over £1200 is entry level for this class of instrument. It is also intended as portable - you can pick up the whole package and carry it through a standard doorway. 

The CPC800 variant with the same optical tube is rock steady by comparison - and a lot heavier and more expensive.

I have no idea how that 10mm eyepiece compares with others. Ideally you want several eyepieces to give a range of magnifications depending on what you want to look at, the seeing conditions and how much you want to get in the field of view. In the UK one would look at the Celestron Omni for lower powers and more complex eyepieces for higher powers. The choice is immense. 

It does appear that the diagonal can be swapped out.

36 minutes ago, Cohhul said:

I am thinking of getting the C90 scope. A Barlow x2 lens, 90 degree diagonal and a 10mm eye piece. Do you think those 3 add ons are worth investing in and is the 10mm the best eye piece to buy? (it comes with a 32mm)

You don't know if the diagonal can be exchanged. Probably not.

Which 10mm eyepiece? Unless you specify one, we can't comment. We don't know what is available in your country. But 10mm would be a useful focal length of eyepiece.

A Barlow lens should be useful.

The Celestron, Skywatcher  and Meade refractors would probably suit you, being 'classic' long focal ratio achromatic refractors.  The mounts are likely to be wobbly, but there is not much you can do about that with your budget. And you will need to know how to set up an equatorial mount to get the best out of it.

I would issue a cautionary note about the C90 spotting scope.  This is designed to be a low-power terrestial scope, and though it can be turned on the night sky, you should confirm that the eyepiece can be swapped with higher power 1.25" (31.7mm) barrel size eyepieces.  The 45 deg erecting prism may not be the best for high power astronomical use and I suspect you cannot swap it out.  In short, a Maksutov supplied for astronomical use with a 90 degree digonal would be better.  And is a mount and tripod included in the deal?

There is a Sky-watcher part that should do exactly what you want - basically a dovetail bar joined at right angles to a camera mounting bar. I got one with my AZ-4 but I expect they can be bought separately.

Be aware that you need an equatorial mount for long exposures.

The Moon looks great through any telescope. What you buy will depend on what's available to you, and your personal preference.  Try to avoid very small Newtonians with short focal ratios and spherical mirrors, e.g. f4 as they will not perform well.  I do not recommend the Meade.  For looking at the Moon the type of mount is not that critical so long as it is not excessively wobbly.  If you are looking at scopes of 80mm aperture, a refractor may make more sense.

I don't know about the Celestron as this exact model is not available in the west.  It looks like a rather basic model.

A small Maksutov would also prove practical.   If terrestial use is a consideration, look at the class of telescopes called "spotting scopes" as they could fill both roles.  You can also use an astro scope on terrestrial targets so long as you don't mind the image being upside down or laterally flipped.

At 500 Euros you still have to make compromises and decide which of your wants have to be sacrificed.  500 Euros will buy you a rather small (and portable) Go To mounted telescope,  or a slighly bigger telescope on a tracking mount,  or good-sized Newtonian telescope on a basic Dobsonian mount, but the last will not be well suited for imaging anything, just for visual use.  (and it might not match your definition of portable),

Beware the glossy astro photograph, as these rarely represent what you can see from your backyard with an affordable telescope.  Also be aware that a processed planetary image taken with e.g. an 8" telescope will often show a lot more detail than an inexperienced observer will see visually with the same telescope.

The Moon looks great through any telescope. Saturn may not look quite like that through an 8"SCT, but I have imaged it and been able to record the major division in the rings and bands of colour on the planet.

Either the C8 SE or the C8 Evolution would be a sensible buy - with the Evolution the extra money buys you a better quality mount with various extras you can look up on the sales pages.

Also budget for a +12v power source, a dew shield and some higher powered eyepieces.

3 hours ago, Andy ES said:

if this is correct is good DSO observing possible with the correct wide angle EP on an SCT?

From a dark skies site I observed a lot of DSOs (galaxies) with my C8 SE and I did not need a wide field eyepiece - just a Plossl.  And not even the lowest power eyepiece the 1.25" barrel will take - I used a 25mm and 15mm Plossl.   The field of this scope with a 25mm Plossl is about half a degree:  a modest number of star clusters are bigger than this,  as are a few nearby galaxies (whose outer parts you probably will not be able to see anyway) but uncountable numbers of DSOs are smaller.

If you have the Stellarium program you can set it up for a particular telescope and eyepiece and it will generate an "as seen through the eyepiece" view for you of various objects.

The Perseus Double Cluster looks great through a 203mm f5 Newtonian - I had one and that cluster was the best view I had with it. 🙂

This is a fairly specific requirement, and one not too dificult to fill. However I should point out that observing the moon and planets may not occupy you for much of your observing time, as the accessibility of these objects varies, so you should consider how you would use the telescope on other objects.

This also affects your choice of mount, as if all you want to do is the Moon and planets, a driven equatorial mount will suffice, whereas if you want to use the scope for general observing, you could consider a GoTo mount that will enable you to find faint and non-obvious objects. You don't need an equatorial GoTo mount for viewing, or planetary imaging.

For a planetary scope you want a large aperture, especially if you have imaging in mind.   You should look at Newtonian reflectors, in particular the long focus f8 variants.  With a larger budget, look at Maksutovs and SCTs (as used by almost all serious planetary imagers) as they are compact for their aperture and have a large depth of focus useful for accomodating imaging accessories such as flip mirrors.  Wiith an unmodified Newtonian you can have difficulty even getting a camera to focus.

I suggest looking at an aperture of at least 6 inches, more if you can afford it, e.g via a used instrument.

I have a CPC800 so feel well placed to comment.  The CPC925 or CPC1100 would be great setups  but as others have said they are very heavy as the OTA and mount head do not separate.  I would not be keen to acquire anything heavier than the CPC800 in this range (at my age) and if I did aspire to a bigger Celestron SCT I would be looking at a different mount so that I could split it it into lighter lumps.  Or does your situation allow you to put wheels under the whole thing including tripod and wheel it in and out of an outbuilding?

On the plus side the mount is exceptionally stable and vibration-resistant, and free from annoying backlash, and ideal for planetary imaging, and with the GPS is easy to get aligned.  I suggest though that you can afford to replace the straight-thru finder with a red dot type finder + a RACI  (right angle) finder both mounted on the OTA. (The red dot then acts as a finder for the optical finder - you will find out why...)

With a f10 SCT you don't need those fancy expensive eyepieces - Plossls will work well enough in the lower powers - but I expect like other SCT owners to whom I pointed this out you will go ahead and buy them anyway. 🙂

Astronomy is not a cheap hobby and £100 will not go far.  You can buy telescopes this cheap but they are likely to be disappointing.  The Skywatcher Heritage 130p is often recommended for beginners but is likely to be out of stock with most dealers.  Second- hand bargains can be had but you need to be able to inspect in person and be able to tell the difference between a good instrument and a dud.

The Moon looks great even in a small telescope, but the planets are likely to be less exciting except on an 'I saw it myself' level.

5 hours ago, Louis D said:

You could go with either a goto Dob and derotate video frames while stacking planetary images or a Dob on an equatorial platform and not have to derotate frames.  Either should be doable on your budget.  The latter would work better for DSOs should you ever want to go in that direction.

Sorry, but I use an alt-azimuth mount for planetary imaging and I don't de-rotate the video frames. Nobody does. It is not necessary.  (De-rotating the spin of the target planet is a  totally different issue.) Not many planetary imagers use Dobs - check the planetary imaging section in this Forum.  Not many people seem to use Dobs on equatorial platforms for deep space imaging - check the relevant imaging section in this Forum. There are better tools.

Be aware that the SE mount is only suitable for planetary imaging.  Some people have used the more expensive Celestron cameras with success, but other brands eg ZWO are more popular.  Don't buy the entry level Celestron planetary camera - I did and had to upgrade as soon as I tried it out.

PC? You have to place it near the mount, so you will need a laptop.