Upgrading my Celestron 130 Suggestions please

[hazegood]

Been thinking and have decided to upgrade my scope from my celestron 130, so am looking for suggestions,
Budget is about £1000, but part of that needs to go on a DSLR (am looking at canoin 1100d - unmodified ) so that takes about £200 out,  then would want to buy soe new eyepeices so another £200 outthe budget (if I went for BST ones at £49 each)

So realistically I have a budget of £600 ish, Ideally I could save money and buy an OTA only that would go on my SW AZ goto mount,  then I could spend more on optics rather than the mount,,  but if I need to nay a complete scope then so be it,

Goto or equivalent is essential, and I cant get my head around EQ mounts, I understand how they work I just cant make it happen (that was with the EQ 3-2 that originally came with my scope))

Scope will be used mainly for visual planetary and lunar, maybe some imaging with the DSLR or webcam,

Dobs are out of the question as getting them in and out of the house would be difficult and I have a lack of storage space for it.

So am looking for suggestions,

Thanks


Leigh

[bomberbaz]

Hi Leigh.

I have had a look around at some options for you and looked at dobs but they were too expensive. Celestrons SE range gavethe SE5 at around £600 but then thought about the new Sky Prodigy scope http://www.harrisontelescopes.co.uk/acatalog/Celestron_SkyProdigy_130_Computerized_Telescope__.html and you still get the same aperture you have now though.

A dobsonian does not have a big footprint, trust me i have one and the flextube makes it even smaller. But to get a decent one with more aperture  http://www.firstlightoptics.com/dobsonians/skywatcher-skyliner-200p-flextube-goto.html you will end up going 2nd hand. Otherwise anything new £600 or under isnt really getting you much more than you already have other than the goto.

[Langy]

When you mention imaging with a DSLR do you mean DSO or still just lunar and planetary?

If it is DSO then I'm sure someone will say you need to stick to an EQ mount and most of your budget will just go on the mount.

Again if into imaging then you probably want to get the book Making Every Photon Count.

Imaging and visual setups seem to be very different.

[Alfian]

Hi Leigh, I'm just curious - was the EQ3-2 with the Celestron 130? The Celestron 130 usually comes with what they call a CG3 which is to all effect an EQ2 which is less substantial than an EQ3-2.

When you talk about the difficulty physically managing a Dob I assume you are talking 8" + because the smaller Dobs which will still be a big upgrade to the 130 are relatively compact for their aperture.

£600 is a good budget - be interesting to see how things turn out.

[hazegood]

Hi Leigh, I'm just curious - was the EQ3-2 with the Celestron 130? The Celestron 130 usually comes with what they call a CG3 which is to all effect an EQ2 which is less substantial than an EQ3-2.

When you talk about the difficulty physically managing a Dob I assume you are talking 8" + because the smaller Dobs which will still be a big upgrade to the 130 are relatively compact for their aperture.

£600 is a good budget - be interesting to see how things turn out.

yes I mean the CG-3 mount which I assumed is the same as an EQ3-2,

Have ruled dobs out as whatever I guy has to come down a spiral staircase, and I can see problems getting the assembled base up and down it,

As fgor imaging I am only interested in Planetary and Lunar at the moment, but I want a DSLR for everyday use as well, so might as well get one that can do both well at a reasonable price

[Alfian]

Sorry to pop the CG3 bubble. The EQ3-2 is a better mount as can be seen here.

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/skywatcher-mounts/skywatcher-eq3-2-deluxe.html

Get the picture re Dobs/spiral staircase - so looking at something that will break down a bit smaller. If you are mainly interested in Planetary/Lunar - what about something like a Mak127. Which S/W Alt/az Goto do you have?