What should i buy????

[Giampiero Baggi]

Ok basically i've been saving up some money for a new telescope, but i've been asking myself the same questions over and over.... 

"With a big dobsonian you can see basically everything the Heavens have to offer with your eye and even do some sketches, but with a motorized telescope you can get long exposures and stuff and blah blah blah... what should i get blah blah blah"

Premise - i live in the middle of a small city with an average light pollution level of 6-7, and very often go out to a nearby mountain village where i spend most of my observing nights (light pollution level of about 2). One of my worries is that, with a dobsonian, i will have problems with the rough terrain of the mountainside (main issue n1)... 

BUT WITH A DOBSONIAN YOU CAN GET A HUGE APERTURE FOR A RELATIVELY SMALL AMOUNT OF MONEY!!11!1

And that's the reason why i can't decide between a dobson mount or an equatorial mount.

See, my problem is that i'd love to have a setup that lets me observe most of the time (since it's mainly what i do), while also being a mildly adequate for taking photos (issue n2).

Halp '-'

 

 

Obivously this is an open discussion and i'd love to hear opinions about various mounts and stuff, their pros/cons etc... thks!

[Louis D]

For a previous poster who asked with similar requirements (observing in the mountains), I think he went with a 150mm Mak on either a goto or a manual alt-az mount.  You'll lose wide views of big objects like the Pleiades due to the long focal length, but that's about it for downsides from your perspective.  On a goto, you'd be able to take short exposures of solar system objects with a camera or piggy-back a camera with a wide angle to mid-length lens for shorter exposures that could be stacked to remove field rotation.

[newbie alert]

Depends on the terrain I suppose..i did a astro tour in Gran Canaria  (AstrotoursGC) and they use 16 inch dobsonians....a flat ish area is useful..if you know the area and you don't have to carry it far then the aperture combined with dark skies is a awesome combo, but if you want to take images then a equatorial mount will be far better

[Louis D]

Just remember, an EQ mount is quite a bit heavier than an equivalent alt-az mount because of the counterweights.  It's also more awkward with a Newtonian because the eyepiece ends up at all sorts of weird angles.

[Whirlwind]

Something that is rarely considered, but possible, is to get a dobsonian and an equatorial platform.  For example:-

http://www.equatorialplatforms.com/

That gives both a tracking and a large aperture.

[Louis D]

Or get a goto collapsible Dob.  You'd be able to take short exposures, derotate them, and stack them.

[Obsession 30]

It really depends if you are more a visual observer or not, if so then it’s got to be the Dobsonian, best views by far, also available with goto if required, which I do have on my 18” U/C 

[John]

13 hours ago, Whirlwind said:

Something that is rarely considered, but possible, is to get a dobsonian and an equatorial platform.  For example:-

http://www.equatorialplatforms.com/

That gives both a tracking and a large aperture.

I agree that a dobsonian on an equatorial platform might fulfil your needs rather well. I used to use my 12" dobsonian with one and it worked very well. The sort of equatorial mount that is able to support a 12" F/5.3 optical tube would be pretty massive, almost an observatory type setup, whereas the dob and and eq mount could be kept indoors and set up very quickly. They might not look all that stable but they really are and capable of handling 300x plus magnification if needed: