What is the best sct for 2000 or less

[Shaun Sr]

Hey guys I've been waiting on the order of the next star 8SE with all the accessories it came out to 1852 but there's been ahold up and so I've had time to think and look at other things so I figured I'd come on here and ask you professionals I'm not really intrested in astrophotography right now but I was intrested in looking at Neptune is best I can so I'd was gonna go with the next start 8SE but I'm spendin 1850 like I said is there something I should jump up to better for the money

 

 

[RT65CB-SWL]

Hi @Shaun Sr and welcome to SGL. 

Just to clarify things, do mean the OTA only; and/or including mount/tripod?
...and don't forget a dew shield... these are extra and not included.

Edited June 16, 2020 by Philip R

[Robindonne]

I would definitely go for a bigger sc 10/11“ and maybe search the second hand market to stay in budget.  An Equatorial mount Like a eq6 and you have a setup for the rest of your life.  Im sure you find it for 2000,-   Incl needed eyepieces etc.  

[Shaun Sr]

Yeah I need it all. I had the star sense in that package but I was thinking is it really worth 400 shipped.  I was thinking if I just added that amount to getting a scope than cool. I wanna stay around 2000 but I can go over

[RT65CB-SWL]

I would be tempted to get this one --->https://www.firstlightoptics.com/advanced-vx-goto/celestron-c8-edge-hd-vx-goto.html

The 'Nextstar' mount is a goto alt-az, [I think], where the one that I have add the the link to is EQ.

One other question. Have you ever looked through an SCT before? -reason I ask is that the field of view is narrow compared to that of a 'conventional' telescope design, i.e. refractor or newtonian reflector. 

[Shaun Sr]

No I haven't and is 8" enough. 

[John]

Neptune can be seen with 30mm binoculars / finders so an 8 inch SCT is more than enough.

It's just a tiny blue/green disk though even at very high magnifications.

 

 

[RT65CB-SWL]

Obviously the bigger the aperture, the bigger the view, so to speak.

Also another downside of a SCT; (or Maksutov for that matter); is that they take a long time to cool down... up to one hour. Being a 'sealed' tube the warm air inside needs to escape and trapped warm air currents can be noticeable sometimes. This is not much of an issue with a refractor or newtoinan reflector.  

I have these two...

a C6/SCT-xlt and an ETX105.

My advice at the moment would be visit/join your local astro. society/club and go to a star party if you can find one locally when things return to normal and have look to see who is using one and have a look through it. It does not necessarily have to be an 8" but it will give who some idea of what to expect to see with an SCT as you have not looked through one before and parting with a large some of money.

[dweller25]

Hello @Shaun Sr

If you want to study Neptune then you need good quality optics, good thermal management and plenty of aperture as Neptune is very small due to it’s distance from us.

I would suggest a Dobsonian in the 10 - 12” region with a cooling fan at the rear.

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/dobsonians/skywatcher-skyliner-300p-flextube-dobsonian.html

Very capable and much cheaper than an SCT.

 

Edited June 16, 2020 by dweller25

[Cosmic Geoff]

Spending nearly £2000 on a scope outfit when you have never owned one is something of a gamble.  You should have a clear idea of what you want and expect.  If not, start with something cheap you can try, then stick in the attic or sell on. You can get an 8" scope for a lot less then £2000 - so if spending that much you are paying for more advanced features, compactness, etc.  The Starsense is a handy extra but by no means essential.  The various off the shelf packages including a C8 offer you:

SE - cheapest variant - a handy visual outfit.

Evolution - a better quality Alt-Az GoTo mount, with internal wifi and battery.

AVX mount - a GoTo equatorial, if you need an equatorial, which you mostly don't - only essential for advanced deep sky imaging.

CPC -  has a massive fork mount and an uprated tripod, resulting in rock solid mount - also has internal GPS - well suited to planetary imaging and general visual observing.

With the exception of the SE, none of these leave much if any change out of £2000.

There is also the EDGE HD variant of the telescope itself - offering an optical upgrade that offers better flatness and sharpness over the whole field of view - nice to have for visual observers but mainly of interest to (advanced) photographers.

Is 8" enough? It's enough for a lot of tasks. Go bigger and while you have more potential performance, it will be more of a pain to set up and will be more severely affected by bad seeing.

[Shaun Sr]

What's up with this meade lx90 vs the celestron equipment

 

I have had a refractor 

 

 

 

Edited June 16, 2020 by Shaun Sr