Help me find a good scope

[AstroNtinos]

Hello guys im new to astronomy and i want to choose my first telescope. I need it for visual astronomy and also for planet imaging a bit. In visual i want it to perform well both on planets and DSOs. I also want it to be affordable not too expensive. But it must be also portable so i conld easily transport it on my holidays. Any ideas. Any help appreciated. Thank you.

[bottletopburly]

Ah  the holy grail of telescopes  in short there is no such telescope, and certainly not cheap and transportable to Chuck in your suitcase, what’s suitable for visual may not be suitable forDSO  Astrophotography , and what’s suitable for planetary may not be suitable for visual, you may need to start of with a budget and see what you can get for your money  then decide what route to take .

[vlaiv]

Indeed, many conflicting requirements.

For best visual on planets and DSOs - you want telescope to be large. For ease of transportation, you want telescope to be small.

Those that are in between tend to be expensive

If your budget is ~500e, then have a look at this scope:

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/maksutov/sky-watcher-skymax-127-az-gti.html

If you have significantly higher budget - this might not be bad option:

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/se-series/celestron-nexstar-6se.html

[Louis D]

You might as well ask for a car that is sporty, good for hauling cargo, gets great mileage, fits in your garage, and is inexpensive.  There are too many conflicting requirements to all be met at once in both cases.

I would recommend you get a SW Heritage 130 or 150 when they come back in stock as it would meet many of your needs as a good starter scope.  It's sort of the equivalent to an entry level, compact hatchback.

[dweller25]

Hello @AstroNtinos and welcome to SGL.
A Celestron C6 or C8 SCT may be the best compromise for all your requirements.

Edited December 4, 2020 by dweller25

[AstroNtinos]

15 minutes ago, dweller25 said:

Hello @AstroNtinos and welcome to SGL.
A Celestron C6 or C8 SCT may be the best compromise for all your requirements.

Well you have the point but for me its expensive. I would spend a max of 500 euros.

[Cosmic Geoff]

At 500 Euros you still have to make compromises and decide which of your wants have to be sacrificed.  500 Euros will buy you a rather small (and portable) Go To mounted telescope,  or a slighly bigger telescope on a tracking mount,  or good-sized Newtonian telescope on a basic Dobsonian mount, but the last will not be well suited for imaging anything, just for visual use.  (and it might not match your definition of portable),

[TerryMcK]

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/maksutov/skywatcher-skymax-127-synscan-az-goto.html
This one is within your budget and will show planets and the moon. DSO are not really feasible visually as they are so faint.

No telescope is ultra portable in the specification you have given but this will fit in a car easily. I don’t think I would take something like this on an aircraft though.

Good luck.

[dweller25]

10 hours ago, AstroNtinos said:

Well you have the point but for me its expensive. I would spend a max of 500 euros.

Well, here is the next best option.....

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/dobsonians/skywatcher-skyliner-200p-dobsonian.html

 

This is what it can do......