THANKS TO MY TEENAGE SON!

[Gregski]

hi and welcome to the forum,

if money is not so much of an issue i`d go for the 8" cpc celestron,

fantasic scope, has gps so it doesn`t take ages setting up, can be broken down to two pieces of managable size, i.e. scope and mount, plus have goto capabilty.

i`ve sat and looked through one and they are very nice, second hand 8" cpc`s go for around the £1300 ish mark and come up now and again.

i also know that brantuk from this site may be selling his in the very near future so you might want to pm him about it and i can say it`s in a fantastic condition.

bying second hand leaves more money for other things and when you sell, if you do you will get most if not all your money back

They are indeed impressive bits of kit - just may be out of budget range. Will it perform that much better than a NexStar 8SE? I think portability is important for us too and the SE seems more manageable.

Regards,

Greg & Tom XX

[Gregski]

Hello guys and welcome! Pleased to meet yer!!

(though I have to personally say that drummers are 'cooler' than guitarist!!)

Thanks for the welcome Brendan. (And by definition that means guitarists are 'Hotter'??) As a keyboard player myself, I'm all for instrument equality!

Greg & Tom

[Gregski]

Hi Greg and Tom and welcome to the group

I'm an ardent CPC fan (cos I have one lol) and can thouroughly reccomend them. Beautiful optics - superb tracking and a doddle to set up with the gps. All scopes look bigger than the picture so don't let that put you off.

I'm looking to upgrade mine in future, soon as a 925 comes up for the right deal as mentioned above.

Cheers

Rob: thanks for the endorsement.

Hi Brantuk, thanks for the welcome and although I'm leaning towards a lighter scope I'll keep you in mind.

Greg & Tom

[Gregski]

Hi and welcome to SGL.

My first scope was a NexStar 6SE with GPS and it's a great scope - got me hooked the first time I looked through it! I still using it now and even do some imaging with it. It's my old faithfull. That said the guys are right - the aperture is everything. Six months after buying the 6SE I had a 12" Newt and the difference was amazing, so if you can, go for the 8". One extra bit of kit that I found made life easier is an Ambubble levelling bubble (you can get them at FLO at about £20) - it sits between the tripod and the mount so you can balance after you attach the scope - it made alignment much more accurate.

I hope you have fun

Mark.

Hi Mark,

Thanks for sharing your experience - I don't think I can cope with the big tube of a 12" - but the Ambubble sounds like a good addition.

Greg & Tom

[Gregski]

Hello and welcome Greg and Tom. You are right, the size of telescopes can be a bit of a shock. My husband recently bought a SW200 PDS and when it arrived the first thought was 'where on earth are we going to put it!'.

I agree with the majority here and would go with the 8'' rather than 6'' finances and space allowing. You'll only end up wishing for the bigger aperture afterwards.

I have a ten year old son who is also very interested in astronomy - its great to share a hobby like this. We can't wait until winter so that he can join us in the cold and dark.

Hi there, I recommended a SW 130P for a friend - though they got the 130 instead - and because its 900mm I was surprised and a bit embarrassed how bulky it was. This is why an SCT is attractive.

I wish your son all the best, perhaps you can let him stay up for the Perseid meteor shower the night of Aug 12th. We will!

All the best,

Greg & Tom XX

[Brendan of Borg]

Hi and welcome from me too -

ps I'd say the coooooolest musicians of all are retired latin percussionists like me

I think that I'd have to agree!!

[Aldebaran5]

Between times of trying to play guitar and astronomy, I try and see the wife anyway welcome to the SGL. Guitarist are the best.

[glowjet]

Hi Greg and Tom,

A very warm welcome to both of you, hope you enjoy the forum.

John.

[Talitha]

Hi and welcome to the group, Greg and Tom.

[Bizibilder]

Hello and welcome to SGL!!

[Pete Presland]

hi greg & tom and welcome to the forum

[michigander]

Welcome to SGL, Greg and Tom!

Dana

[cyclone]

hi and welcome to SGL

[JamesM]

Hi Tom and Greg and a warm welcome to the forum.

Clear skies

James