Advice needed for new scope purchase

[kyrol]

Hello all,

I am looking to buy a new scope, I want one that will be good for observing and astro imaging, my research so far has led me to believe that it needs to have at the least a synscan goto capability. My budget is around the £700 mark.

thanks

[ollypenrice]

To image deep sky on a budget you need a small scope because the mount is so critical. You must not be under-mounted. The cheapest mount that is likely to give you sub-pixel tracking accuracy under autoguiding (which can come later) is the HEQ5. You can get started with the HEQ3 but it is not at all future proofed. The budget would be more realistic if you went for second hand.

But then a small telescope is very limited when it comes to visual observing...

If you take imaging out of the equation you have a lot more on the table.

Imaging is a complicated business and one which it is best to understand at least reasonably clearly before spending a single penny. To do this I'd recommend (as would everyone else!) Steve Richards' book Making Every Photon Count which is available from FLO, the sponsor of SGL.

Olly

http://ollypenrice.smugmug.com/Other/Best-of-Les-Granges/22435624_WLMPTM#!i=1793644788&k=r8HTK72