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Hello I'm Peter from Devon.

I'm a Director of The Mars Society UK and I guess I became interested in space and the stars after watching the Apollo Landings on TV as a kid. Consequently I'm fairly knowledgeable on humans to Mars, but not when it comes to astronomy.

I bought a telescope about 9 or 10 years ago ( a 4 inch Newtonian branded Nova) Also I got a star guide and a copy of red shift

Clearly I had no idea what I was doing and my experience with this instrument was quite frustrating 90 percent of the time and brilliant on several occasions.

I have been thinking about buying a proper telescope for a while I read a number of magazines and started to think about buying a Meade scope with go-to software.

However having bought a copy 'sky at night mag' and having read a review on dobsonians they seem to offer very good value for money. Some of these can be seen on ebay for around £100. This seemed like a sensible way to re start skywatching.

I met Steve during a recent visit to the camera shop in Exeter. I found his advice very good. More or less we decided to get a Dobsonian then upgrade the mount to an equatorial one when funds permit and add go to if I still cant find my way around the sky by the time I,m ready to upgrade.

I'd be interested to hear your views on this strategy and also what you think of the 8 inch Skyliner ( which seems to be a scope made under a few names/prices) Is it OK ? Whats your view.

Thanks in advance for your views.

Regards

Peter

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Welcome to the forum Peter......

Another South West member.. :)

For a good value for money scope you can't beat a Dob....Just depends how far you have to move it to your observing site as they tend to be a bit lumpy..

Greg

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Welcome Peter,

I have read with interest Robert Zubrins books and am also a big fan of Kim Stanley Robinson. I look forward to the day they get around to building Underhill hehe.

As for the Dob, i've never heard of Skyliner as a brand, but the idea is a good one. An 8" dob is a good compromise between aperture and portability. If you go for the f6 one you should have no problems. Which EQ mount were you thinking of getting? It needs to be something solid for such a large load.

As for ebay, my advice is to steer well clear until you know exactly what you're buying. Stick with buying from reputable dealers or if you must buy second hand use astro buy/sell or a repected forum as a contact point. You'll have a much better chance of dealing with a "decent chap" (or chapess)

Welcome again, and good luck in your choice of telescope, choosing is half the fun!

Gordon Copestake

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Peter - welcome to a great, but sometimes frustrating hobby.

Skyliner Dobs are imported by Optical Vision Ltd. In 6", 8" and 10" ( they also import Skywatcher, TAL and Intes)

Here's the link to the Skyliner Dob Spec. http://www.opticalvision.co.uk/prodtype.asp?PT_ID=21

Others with more experience than myself are better placed to give their advice on this Dob. I would think that there is a fair chance that it's the same optics as the Skywatcher Explorer Newtonian - the 8" version I believe a number of forum members own and rate.

MD

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