New Telescope for 2

[Gatesy]

Hi guys and gals,

Looking to get my wife a telescope for Christmas as she loves looking at the moon and has dropped a fair few hints.   However its going to be for the both of us and I would like something that I can hook a full frame DSLR up to and take some nice shots of the planets/possibly nebulas.

Budget wise looking at a max of £350-£400.

We live in Wales so we have the brecons protected dark skies just up the road so something portable would be perfect.   I know absolutely nothing about telescopes and have tried reading up but I keep getting very very confused.

Cheers

Gareth

[wimvb]

41 minutes ago, Gatesy said:

I know absolutely nothing about telescopes and have tried reading up but I keep getting very very confused.

Hint your wife at this, then.

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/books/making-every-photon-count-steve-richards.html

In all fairness, you will have a hard time finding a "one size fits all" solution. Besides, with one scope, only one of you can do his/her thing.

For you, I would recommend one of these

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/star-tracker-astronomy-mounts.html

For your wife probably a Maksutov on an altaz (up-down, left-right) mount

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/maksutov.html

With two scopes you can share the hobby and fascination.

[Gatesy]

Brilliant thanks for the info I was actually looking at the Sky-Watcher Skymax 127 previously.  Now just to see if anyone has any stock.

The book is also on the list as is a really good mount.   Will it make much difference to use a star tracker mount compared to say a Alt-Azimuth Mount?

[wimvb]

56 minutes ago, Gatesy said:

Will it make much difference to use a star tracker mount compared to say a Alt-Azimuth Mount?

For imaging, yes. For visual with a Newtonian, your back will thank you if you get an altaz mount and not a star tracker.