Up grading to new scope

[Bugfly]

I whant up grade to a new scope I am looking at celestron vx Schmidt 1100. of celestron edge 800 hd for pictures just wondering with will be the best

[Bugfly]

Curious what you have now and what your goal is for the new scope.   Others with more experience can advise you better than I but I was wondering as to your experience and purpose.

got 8icnh Dobson at the moment

[miguel87]

8 inches is quite a lot of aperture. What do you want better views of?

[BritAngler]

Might it not be cheaper to convert your present scope to Goto equatorial?  All you'd need is the mount/tripod and mounting rings/plate.

[faulksy]

hi, if your after imaging as you say quote pics, your better of going with a 80mm frac on a eq mount. the 8" sct will only be as good as your 8" dob but with a narrower fov. yes the 11" will gather more light but witha even longer fl. both brilliant scopes, you will also need a power supply. we need more info

[Alan64]

An 8" f/6 Newtonian on a Dobson-mount is much more versatile at observing most everything in the sky than an 8" or 11" f/10 Schmidt.   And, If you wanted to transfer the 8" f/6 optical tube to an equatorial, you'd probably need an EQ6 in order to support it properly in its revolutions...

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/images/images1000x1000/sky_watcher_s30100_eq6_goto_equatorial_mount_1141705.jpg

...and a behemoth.

An 8" f/10 Schmidt has a focal length of 2032mm, compared to the 1200mm of an 8" f/6 "Dobsonian".  An 11" f/10 Schmidt has a focal-length of a whopping 2800mm.  The short tubes of these telescopes belie the fact that they either favour or are specifically designed for moderate-to-high magnifications within the solar system: the Moon, the planets, single and double stars; and along with observations of smaller deep-sky objects in their entireties.

Let's take a 32mm eyepiece, for instance.  A 32mm generally offers the lowest power for most telescopes, and as a "finder" or "spotter"...

8" f/10(2032mm ÷ 32mm = 64x

11" f/10(2800mm ÷ 32mm = 88x

20x to 30x at most would make for usable magnifications for scanning and finding objects in the sky.

Corrected-Cassegrains, Maksutovs and Schmidts, along with classical and Gregorian Cassegrains, were designed to simulate long-focus, planetary refractors, and within a tube a third the length.  This is what an obstructed 8" f/10 Schmidt would actually look like if it was an unobstructed refractor; in this case, a 6" f/15...

http://davetrott.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/F6-Standard-Refractor.jpg

The 11" f/10 would be a bit fatter, and longer even.

The long focal-lengths are accomplished by folding same into three sections within a much shorter tube...

http://calgary.rasc.ca/telescopes/Schmidt-Cassegrain_cutaway.jpg

Then there are the thermal and dew issues associated with the catadioptrics.

...just so that you're aware of the "nature of the beast", so to speak.

That said, an 11" SCT would complement the smaller, faster 8" f/6 Dobsonian, albeit in an odd sort of way.
 

[Daniel-K]

hi, if your after imaging as you say quote pics, your better of going with a 80mm frac on a eq mount. the 8" sct will only be as good as your 8" dob but with a narrower fov. yes the 11" will gather more light but witha even longer fl. both brilliant scopes, you will also need a power supply. we need more info

don't listen to this guy. he's right on one thing we need more information about goals. targets,budget.

have you thought about a mount?

making sure you have the right mount will make the difference between taking good images or a world of headaches. starting off imaging is hard work to some people it doesn't come naturally and with anything in astronomy it has a steep learning curve. I know been there done that and about to do it again.

best bit of advice I can tell you when taking images is bigger is not always better. A C11 is huge ! with a slow f ratio although can be made faster with a reducer.

so if you can provide a little more information then I'm sure the SGL crew will point you in the right direction. Gpod luck.

BTW this guy is my friend