MrG1977

3 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.

That's what I'm swaying towards at the moment something like a skywatcher quattro or explorer 10 inch on a eq mount , that way when budget allows I could get a good refractor and use the same eq mount to keep cost down 

30 minutes ago, M40 said:

Yep, definitely think two telescopes. As dark knight said, start with the mount and then see where your budget goes from there. 

I don't know if you have found it yet, but have a look at this topic in the "Getting started with imaging" forum... Imaging with the 130pds some very impressive images have been posted.

Enjoy

Just had a quick look on that thread , some very impressive photos , I'll take a better look later tonight 

7 minutes ago, dark knight said:

Im more into the astro photography side of things and would say the mount is critical,  something like a neq6 mount would provide a very stable platform and can carry a decent payload of equipment, it is fairly heavy though. It can easily manage a 10 inch reflector for visual and an 8 inch reflector with photography accessories. It really depends on how portable you want to be, where you going to use it,  back garden or trip out to dark site, whether you want to run everything via software and a laptop, how you going to power everything etc etc

It will mostly be in my back garden so power wouldn't be a problem , I have also looked at the skywatcher quattro 12s but have read that they maybe a little big for an eq mount and would wobble even in the slightest breeze , I'm thinking perhaps might be better getting a big DOB for the time being as we enjoy the visual more at the moment and then look to add an eq mount and a refractor at a later date when I've learnt more about the photography side 

Thanks for your reply , I guess the easiest answer to that question is I want to be able to do both , with what your saying I'm going to need 2 scopes , which I think with the budget I've got I'm going to struggle with 

First of all is like to say hi to everyone , I've always had an interest in the night sky since being very young , but never got a telescope until earlier this year , during first lockdown .

I bought a celestron nexstar 130slt , it's a fantastic telescope and have loved using it but now I've been bitten by the bug and want to upgrade , but there is just so much choice out there I think I've just confused myself lol .

I initially thought I'd like to upgrade to an explore scientific ar 152 , but after reading reviews it's not so good for the photography side of things due to chromatic aberration , so then I looked at the skywatcher skaymax 180pro , but reviews suggest this is best for only planets .

I've also read that your best to buy the biggest aperture you can afford , which leads to a dobsonian .

So I thought I'd turn to you guys with the experience and the knowledge to help steer me in the right direction .

I have a reasonable budget of up to 2k , we currently enjoy the visual side of astronomy but would like in the future to get into astrophotography , my main target objects is planets , in particular Saturn and Jupiter , but would also like to be able to view and photograph galaxies and nebula's , so ideally due to my budget would like to find a scope that could potentially cover all my requirements from a scope , I'm not wanting competition quality photos but something that would still look impressive to friends and family .

I'm kind of guessing in advance that it's a tall order and possibly not going to find 1 scope that will be suitable , but thought best to ask you guys on here and see what the general consensus is and go from there .

Thanks in advance for taking the time to read this and I look forward to hearing your responses , I'd also consider any second hand equipment that any of you may have for sale that may be suitable for my requirements , I'm based in hull 

Thanks MrG 👍🏻