Recommendations for my next telescope

[Damien2904]

Hello all,

Please can you help me, I've spent the last few months with my first telescope (a Celestron PowerSeeker 127EQ) learning the basics and whether I'd like to continue this as a hobby, now I've come to the conclusion that I'd like to continue and take the next step and buy a more higher quality scope. I've become completely overwhelmed by the varieties and information online....so I come seeking your advise. 

Reasons for use :

Viewing & photographing the planets & moon (mainly), I'd love to have something powerful enough to see Uranus & Neptune in good enough detail that shows them as a planet rather than a star like object, as they both fascinate me the most. Photography - a big must....currently I have a Nikon DSLR with adaptors etc.....but plan to purchase one of the ZWO planetary cameras in the future.

Stars/Galaxies....I'm not intending to go as far as imaging galaxies etc but it would be nice to at least see them, however its not my main focus....plus I understand that I may need a completely different set-up for that....maybe another time.

Other equipment I have that I intend using : Baader Hyperion Zoom Mark IV, Baader 2.25 Barlow for Zoom Hyperion,  various Plossl eyepieces

Budget : like everyone I'd prefer to keep it low, but like most things, the more you pay the better the quality, so hit me with it. Around £500 would be ideal but I've read for decent set-ups it can amount to the £1000 mark. 

Scopes I've been checking out: 

Sky Watcher Maksutov variety

Sky Watcher Dobsonian SkyLiners & Heritage variety - can't say I'm overly keen on the design, they look big & bulky - but if good enough I'd roll with it.

Celestron NexStar - although slightly over my desired price range

Any recommendations would be great, whether it's whole set-ups or separate mount / scope. Thanks. 

Damien

[Nigella Bryant]

Maybe go second hand? More bang for bucks. Most of my equipment is second hand, celestron 11 inch XLT f10 for £900, Neq6 for £600, 12inch f4 £350, Lunt 60mm double stack for £2000, 70ed for £150, etc, etc. Half market value and majority of the stuff not used a lot. I've probably got £10,000 worth of equipment for around £4,000. Acquired over the years I might add, lol. People sell on this forum and astro adds. Just a thought. 

[Cosmic Geoff]

So, in short you want to image planets and view DSOs.

For planetary imaging you want aperture, preferably 8" or more. Same for viewing DSOs.

SCT telescopes are widely used for planetary imaging as they can provide the aperture in a compact package, and have lots of focal range to cope with accessories that add several cm. to the light path.

So ideally you want a SCT on a solid GoTo Altaz, or equatorial (at least RA driven), or a GoTo AltAz/EQ mount, plus a planetary video camera, and a small budget for other imaging accessories.  We are looking at a budget (new) substantially in excess of your 500 to 1000 pounds here, but it can be done if you buy used.

Of course you can spend less, e.g. an 8" Newtonian telescope on a RA driven equatorial mount could come within budget, but you would find this rig quite annoying to use, struggle to get it in focus with imaging accessories added to the optical path, and without GoTo struggle to find those faint DSOs. 

Or you can buy smaller (e.g. 127mm Mak) but the results will be proportionately less. 

[Andy0306]

Have a look at the Astrobiscuit videos on Youtube