Help me pick out a good telescope! Please?

Question

I've had my current telescope since I was 8...It's nine years old, and I do believe I'm ready to graduate from such a childish scope to a serious, hardcore scope. So, I've started looking around, and I basically have fallen in love with the Orion line of telescopes. I'm having trouble deciding between the Orion AstroView 6 EQ Reflector or the Orion StarMax 127mm EQ Maksutov-Cassegrain. I did, at one time, have my heart set on an Orion SkyQuest XT 8,10,12 Classic Dobsonian. I couldn't make up my mind which Dob to focus on. I live in a converted car hauler. One half is a class room for my sisters and the other half is my room. My family travels. Alot. I don't need severe portability, but I do need to be able to *carry* it up and down/in and out of my trailer. That's what made the dobs unappealing. I've heard the slightest bump, and you have to realign it. I'm on a tight budget. Nothing over $800 is possible! Please help me pick one! Forgive any spelling errors. Suggest an eyepiece too!

Also, light pollution is somewhat a problem. If anyone could direct me to a site that sells telescope screens for blocking out light, it would be quite helpful! I have seen the light pollution filters. Do they work as well as I hope them to? Thank you so much for reading, and I really hope you can help me out!

Thank you everyone who has responded! I do believe I'll go ahead with the XT10 Classic and just do some research on building my own eventually. I am not an expert astronomer, but I don't want to depend on a locator in order to find my way around the sky. I already have computer software for that! But I do have a sky atlas too. I do know a few constellations, and the location of a couple of objects. With all of you saying "Go with the Dob!!" I think I will. I thought that collimation was a tough, time consuming thing, I guess I was wrong! You guys got me excited about the Dobsonians again. I cannot thank you all enough. Your opinions have been VERY helpful! Hey, if I ever need advice again, you guys are the ones I'm coming to! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Answer 1

Don't let collimation scare you away from Dobs! The Orion AstroView 6 you're considering will also need collimation now and then, and it will be more critical because of its short focal ratio. Most modern Newtonians have pretty stable collimation; I almost never have to touch the collimation on mine, and I'm always moving them around. Orion's Newtonians come with a neat little collimation cap which makes collimation easy.

I'd recommend a Dob in the 6" to 10" size range. Any smaller, and you'll soon be dissatisfied; any bigger and you'll keep finding excuses not to set it up. I have an Orion XT6 IntelliScope and really like it, but if you're an experienced astronomer you don't really need the IntelliScope feature. I've also used 8", 10", and 12" Dobs; currently my main scope is an 11" Starmaster Dob. But I've also owned (and own) many other telescopes, including an Orion 127mm Mak-Cass, which was very nice, but required an hour or two of cooling down before it performed really well. Given your budget and other constraints, I'd go for an 8" or 10" Dob.

Regarding eyepieces, I generally recommend two or three good ones, rather than a bunch of cheap ones. Orion's Stratus series has gotten very good reviews, and their Expanse series is really good for the price. The Plössls they supply with their scopes are decent, especially the 25mm.

It's pretty easy to build your own light shields out of wood or pipe and canvas. Light pollution filters can help, especially the UHC or UltraBlock, though dark skies are the best solution. I'm spoiled now because I live in the country, after spending most of my life in the city!

Answer 2

You will get more answers than just mine. I own also an Orion telescope. I think the price to quality ratio is very good. The AstroView 6 EQ is a Newtonian scope and will give you a wider view and/or a brighter picture. On the other hand it's larger. The StarMax 127mm EQ is a closed system with a front lens. It's more compact. But the field of view is narrower. The lowest magnification is higher.
When you compare the maximum useful magnification then the StarMax 127 is not better than the 6" Newtonian. Both scopes have a maximum useful magnification of about 200.
For eyepieces I can recommend you the Expanse series from Orion. The 66° apparent field of view is excellent. They give you a far better picture than ordinary Plossels. They are reasonable priced and you get all four of them for the price of three.

Answer 3

Dobs are by far the easiest to align, however can be quite bulky. I have a 13.1" F4.5 dob. I've strapped it on top of my car and driven hundreds of miles over some of the worst "washboard" roads you can imagine. After such a drive, realignment of the mirrors only takes minutes (and most times, I don't need to realign at all). In such a limited space, I would suggest something a bit more modest. Perhaps a 10" F4.5 or F5. They aren't too heavy and will give real good views of many objects. As for LPFs or UHC filters they work ok. As for eyepieces, you will probably want to stick with 1.25" barrels (less expensive than 2" eyepieces and usually better constructed than 0.95" eyepieces). Magnification, or power, of your eyepieces is of great concern. A good low, medium, and high power eyepieces are a must. To determine the magnification of an eyepiece with your telescope is done by a simple formula: Focal length of telescope divided by focal length of eyepiece (FLT/FLE). Low power eyepieces would be anywhere from 55mm to 25mm (55mm being very low, and 25mm getting close to medium). Medium power eyepieces would range from 25mm to 17mm, and high power from 17mm to 4mm (although with smaller aperture telescopes (12" and smaller) 10mm may be the lowest you'd want to go). I hope this helps. Good luck, and clear skies!

Answer 4

Spend as much as yet can. Get something with a motorised drive/setting circles. Skywatcher make a good 6" maksutov

MAK150 OTA PRO
Diameter: 150mm
Focal Length: 1800mm
F/ratio: F/12

Accesssories:
*Tube rings
*8" Dovetail bar
*9x50 Finderscope
*90 degree diagonal
*20mm, 9mm LET eyepieces
*Durable aluminum carrying case

which may be the same as the Orion

It's the same with anything you buy its up too how much you can afford to spend.

Personally I would like a 8" Vixen VMX200L on Sphinx drive and tripod

Answer 5

Hi. The Maksutov-Cassegrain is least likely to suffer collimation problems but a good Dob is easy to re collimate if it gets knocked out. Especially in the 6" range. If you plan on taking photographs then an equatorial mount makes it easier. Dobs cannot track without a separate and expensive base.

Answer 6

You get a lot of bang for your buck with this one:

http://www.telescopes.com/products/celestron-11-inch-cpc-schmidt-cassegrain-with-starbright-xlt-coatings-32987.html

But for under $800, there are lots on this site.