"David Jones" wrote in message
om...
Yeah I have a pair of 10x50 Bushnells... old but they do the trick. I
am amazed at dusk how many more stars can be seen through the
binoculars than with the naked eye.

I'm still keen on getting something... while the ETX-70 GOTO features
are neat it sounds like it is too small a scope.

OK... Same place that is selling the 6" Newtonian Reflector is also
selling this...


http://www.citiwellint.com/vu.php?pa...ng+Goods&age=+

a 90mm Maksutov-Cassegran with two 1.25" eyepieces (a 9mm and a 25mm)
for $189 CDN. It doesn't have an EQ mount or motor (nor the GOTO) but
it is larger than the ETX-70. My big concern is the mount... What
should I be looking for in a tripod/mount? I get the feeling that I
will want something with guides for setting azimuth,
elevation(altitude) and declination? or how how else does a newbie
end up finding things?
The big problem is that mounts that have really nice 'smooth' motions, and
reasonable rigidity, are expensive. Basically, the 'best' small mount
around, is probably the Vixen GP-DX, and it's slightly smaller brother the
GP. These mounts have been 'copied' by allmost everybody, and some of the
copies are quite good (though few have quite the gear quality shown by the
Vixen units). The Celestron copy, in it's 'latter' incarnation (with
improved RA bearings), can work quite well, but usually needs some 'tuning'
to be really good. Generally, a reasonable mount, will cost as much as the
scope on it. 80% of the aluminium tripods supplied with scopes, are too
'springy' to really work well (one option that is quite cheap, and gives
excellent results, is to replace the legs on such a tripod, with timber ones
made from a wood like ash - surveyors tripods are also suprisingly cheap,
and a lot better than 95% of the normal telescope ones).
Maksutov scopes, are often quite good, but have the disadvantage, of
relatively long focal lengths. This gives relatively high magnifications
(making them good for 'planetary' observation), but relatively small FOV's,
which can make them less useful for 'deep sky' observation.
There is a problem, because of your desire to image. Basically, imaging,
puts more demands on the mount, and the 'starting point', tends to be
higher, than for basic viewing. For simple viewing, the 'Dobsonian mounted
Newtonian', is the cheapest system, with the downside that you have to move
the scop yourself, but the plus of putting the money into the optics. The
Hardin Optical units are probably the best 'value' around at the moment,
being one of a number coming from Chinese manufacturers, with reasonable
optics. The Orion 'Intelliscope' series, are similar, but add a 'push to'
system, which tells you where the scope is pointing.
The way people find things with scopes, depends (a little) on the mount, but
the simplest way, is 'star hoping'. Basically most interesting objects, have
recognisable 'bright' stars reasonably close, or patterns that 'point' to
them. With a EQ mount, there are normally RA/Dec 'dials' on th axes, and you
can point the scope to a known object, and then adjust the dials so that the
reading corresponds to the RA/Dec of that object. Then if you move the scope
to the RA/Dec of the desired target, it will be pointing at the right spot.
I really have to support the suggestion, that you see if there is an
astronomy club nearby. It is terrifyingly easy to spend a lot of money on
astronomy equipment, and not get what you really want. Learning what
equipment does, is far cheaper, by looking at other people's kit, than by
buying it yourself!...

Best Wishes