Hello Dan, As an XT10 owner, in my opinion, I think the XT8 would make a great choice. It's reasonably priced, provides good views of the planets and deep sky objects, and should fit into most cars. My XT10 optical tube fits in the trunk of my 1998 Toyota Camry and the base fits in the backseat. As far as eyepieces go, it looks like Orion only includes a single 25mm (48x) eyepiece with the scope (they used to also include a 10mm), so you'll probably want to look at getting a higher power eyepiece as well. Another option would be to get a 2x or 3x barlow lens to increase the magnification of the included 25mm eyepiece. Hope my 2 cents worth helps! Jeff
Date: Tue, 11 Nov 2008 12:46:28 -0700 From: "Dan Hanks" <danhanks@gmail.com> Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Introduction and advice on a new scope To: utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com Message-ID: <abb33cbd0811111146l79d9c3ecsc172af3ce5e1f799@mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Hi folks,
By way of introduction, I just joined the list. I've been a subscriber before but life just got too busy and I had to drop off for a while. Life has calmed down somewhat, so I'm back.
I've been into astronomy for as long as I can remember, probably started with backyard sleepouts in my hometown of Parowan, UT, and looking up at the stars on warm summer nights.
Though I've enjoyed astronomy for many years, I've never had a real good-quality scope. I currently have a lower-quality Bushnell 4" reflector with an EQ mount, and am looking to upgrade to a much better instrument. I imagine some better eyepieces might make a world of difference. Altogether, though, my current scope provides more headaches than celestial enjoyment, so I'm looking to move to something of better quality, easier to use, and more likely to get me out more often. I have my eye on the Skyquest XT12, but that would probably stretch our budget a bit. As an intermediate step I've considered going with the XT8, as a smaller investment to see if I'll actually get out and use the thing. If that turned out ok, I could probably graduate to the XT12 (or perhaps the XX12 if prices came down on that after some time).
Any recommendations?
Thanks,
Dan