Gondalf

Thank you very much for the suggestion! I'm already watching his videos.

Hi, thanks again to everyone for the suggestions. I tried today to check if the scope is collimated and it appear to be so, so that's a good news. How long would you say you need for it to cooldown properly? (Here in Portugal we're at about 16º/17º at night, don't know if it matters). My gf wants to gift me something to help this new hobby and I was thinking on a set of lenses, from reviews I found that Svbony makes good ones, but I see two very similar sets: https://www.amazon.es/-/pt/gp/product/B07BFWFVNP/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A3ICDZYF91YIY1&th=1 https://www.amazon.es/-/pt/dp/B07B8KVX7G/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8 Is there much difference between these two? I'm also getting a filter as suggested above, and stumbled upon something called a barlow lens, which I read is to magnify my view X times. Is it worth it for my setup? Thanks again for all the help so far!

So, to give everyone an update, I did go with the choice of the Sky-Watcher Dobson 8 and did my first session tonight. The setup: The "backyard": To star slow and easy I just hopped around between the Moon, Saturn and Jupiter and got to see the moons Europa, Io, Callisto and Ganymede as well. I was having trouble focusing on the planets, could not get the image to focus entirely. I understand that it can be a number of factors, from not so great lenses, light pollution or the telescope not being collimated from factory? Will dive in to that one tomorrow and learn how to do it. And here are the really poor and amateur photos I took of Moon and Jupiter while holding my phone on the sight (things in the sky move really fast!): Thanks everyone!

Thanks to everyone again, the amount of useful replies and information to a new member is still astounding to me. You are convincing me to invest and be a part of this. Fortunately I think I'm able to store a Dobsonian without much hassle, so I'm looking for one on the shop that serves my country. Speaking of which, I've updated my information so it shows I'm on the outskirts of Lisbon, Portugal! I'm looking at: TRADICIONAL DOBSON SKYWATCHER 6 for 305€ TRADICIONAL SKYWATCHER DOBSON 8 for 407€ Is it worth the extra 100€ to go for the 8´? Also thanks to the people giving me the ideia that the Celestron I already own is still worth while, it would most definitely be a easier model to have to go on the road with.

Thanks to everyone who replied, this was a lot of good information and advise that will help me on my decision. It seems a Dobsonian is the way to go, but as I suspected it might not be a big leap from where I am now, so I think I'll hold on and try to make a bigger upgrade sometime in the future and keep using the Celestron I have now. Again, I appreciate the information everyone has given, I was not expecting for so many good replies to my question, thank you very much.

Hi, I come to you to ask for an advise on which telescope to purchase. Last year I was offered a Celestron AC 70/400 TravelScope AZ as my first telescope and I loved to start exploring and learning about the sky with it, but soon realized that it felt a bit lacking to what I thought the experience would be, as it can only clearly see the moon or Jupiter / Saturn with a bit of effort. This year I was thinking on upgrading, but only if it would make a noticeable change in the experience, my budget is 300€. I tried searching online on this price range and found recommendations for Celestron Telescope N 130/650 Astromaster EQ (or MD if it's worth it), but I can't quite understand if it'll be a good enough upgrade. I'd be open to suggestions to other models. I understand the difference in technologies between the refractor/reflector, I don't know if the maintenance of either changes much from one another and if that could be a deterring factor. I'm searching for your opinion on if this is a noticeable difference on the experience or if I should wait a while longer and try to invest on a bigger leap in models. I'm searching for a definite model to keep for regular use, I don't intend to buy another telescope on the foreseeable future. Thank you very much for any input and sorry for my inexperience, stargazing is something I always found fascinating but never had the chance to explore.