Hi!
A few months back I bought a Golden puppy, and our nightly walks have sparked an interest in exactly what I am seeing in the night sky. Some nights Mars, Jupiter, and Venus are so big and bright that you would never suspect that they are so far away. Spotting Saturn with the naked eye and a little help from an app on my phone was also a nice surprise. If I happen to wake up in the middle of the night I get a beautiful view of Orion right in my backyard, and if I wait a little longer, Sirius comes into view. Now being 50, I find myself regretful that I have waited so long to find interest in the wonders of the night sky.
Now for the hard part...what scope to buy. Trying to gather information on this subject has my head spinning to the point that I am almost frozen, afraid to do anything before I get MORE information that seemingly has no end. Like many new people I am probably overthinking it. I guess I am just searching for a good middle ground. Something that is not too expensive in the event that I turn out to not be quite as interested in this as a serious hobby as I hope, but a scope that is good enough to use long term if astronomy turns out to be something that I absolutely love. This place is a wonderful source of information, that I will continue to rely upon to help me make up my mind. A local college has a club I believe that I will look further into, to hopefully get a peak at what is out there, and what I like best.
At this moment, just from reading a bit here, it seems the best bang for the buck, and ease of use is a Dobsonian. They are pretty damn big, but an 8” would probably be where I would lean if I were to buy right now...maybe a 10” since I really don’t plan on traveling anywhere with it outside of my backyard. GOTO’s are tempting, but I don’t think I will go that route right out of the gate. To me, getting lesser quality for a higher price because it has a computer, doesn’t sound ideal. What I really want is the best scope, for the best price, that I can be happy with for a good long while, until I figure out if I want to spend bigger in the future.
Anyway, thanks to anyone who reads this, and I look forward to any thoughts from folks who are willing to share their experiences from when they first started out. I am excited to get my first scope, but am not one to jump into making a quick decision on the first shiney thing I see...I am more prone to drag it on and agonize over my decision, and it doesn’t help that there is no clear cut answer to any of my questions out there, there are so many differing opinions. Thanks again to anyone kind enough to respond.
