Equipment and technology at home to actually look at Space (stars, moon)

[Universe93B]

I have been using binoculars for months and a friend's Celestron 4se for the last several weeks to introduce myself to astronomy. I'm looking to move to bigger things and have been saving up money like crazy for my one of 2 hobbies (other is car repairs). It might break the bank, but you only live once.

What do you think of this particular telescope for my particular skies and need? I'm in a suburb of Raleigh, NC -big sprawling neighborhood growth, but not to the level of places like Houston. Bortle Class 6 skies from my yard. I can drive to a lakeside park (Jordan Lake) 20 min away to get Class 4 skies. I figured I can use filters to help with this issue?

I want a computerized scope to help me find objects in the sky - have 2 young kids so can't spend forever trying to find something in the huge sky. (The 4se motors don't always work very well, and sometimes they don't work at all or can't even position itself - I think the finderscope is not working well and my friend didn't really take good care of it). I can easily lift heavy items. I have an extra large closet on the first floor near the garage entrance door, to store the telescope items so I can easily take it outside. I already have the Baader Hyperion Zoom with Barlow 2.25x. Don't know if I would ever get into astrophotography. I am not someone who will collects telescopes either so gotta buy a good one now. I would be buying the Celestron StarSense to automatically align the telescopes without even finding stars.


Celestron EdgeHD 11 inch with CGX mount:
https://www.bhphotov..._telescope.html

(I know the CGX mount is heavy, but maybe it's good to buy now for future scopes? Although after an 11 inch, I would only get a refractor like an Explore Scientific 80mm or 102mm FCD100 that I would mount on the CGX also or maybe mount on top of the EdgeHD since the CGX would have enough weight capacity)

[rjshae]

For some serious amateur astronomy I think you need at least a 6-inch scope. An 11-inch aperture should work handsomely, but it's a pretty significant investment. What you might do is look for a local astronomy club and see when they're hosting a sky-watching party. That should allow you to look through various scopes so you can see what you like. Plus I'm sure they'll be happy to give you advice.

[Universe93B]

Originally Posted by rjshae

For some serious amateur astronomy I think you need at least a 6-inch scope. An 11-inch aperture should work handsomely, but it's a pretty significant investment. What you might do is look for a local astronomy club and see when they're hosting a sky-watching party. That should allow you to look through various scopes so you can see what you like. Plus I'm sure they'll be happy to give you advice.

Thanks, I actually did attend one in Raleigh, NC. They were so helpful. But the main take away was how much are you willing to lift and assemble when you want to view? So, obviously it's easiest to just carry something out of the closet, put it in the yard and look at something. This takes the least amount of time, set up and not much lifting.

At the same time, my job makes me work hard. Although I do have many evenings free and 75% of weekends free. I want something that will show me great planetary views and maybe some Deep Sky Objects (DSO). I don't want to buy a scope and then upgrade a year later - I don't have time for that. I don't want to buy a mount that I have to upgrade a year later either.

I guess what I'm asking is that I'm somewhat of a beginner, but at the same time I want something "upgraded."

I also understand that I probably need the Explore Scientific 80mm or higher FCD100 refractor for a wider field of view.

[rjshae]

It doesn't hurt to have a second, smaller scope with a wider field of view. Sometimes you just want to gaze at starfields, the Milky Way, or the Moon.