Stargazing What is the best Dobsonian telescope with a goto feature?

[PEGELLA]

My interests include;
Large telescopes & Astrophotography
Sub-atomic particles
The Copenhagen Interpretation
Black Holes
Bubble universes and the Multiverse
Many Worlds Theory
The Holographic Proposal
Quantum entanglement
Causality, determinism and free will

 

[jedishrfu]

Orion scopes have good goto features in dobsonian mounts. You move the scope and it help find the star of interest.

 

[davenn]

My interests include;
Large telescopes & Astrophotography
Sub-atomic particles
The Copenhagen Interpretation
Black Holes
Bubble universes and the Multiverse
Many Worlds Theory
The Holographic Proposal
Quantum entanglement
Causality, determinism and free will

Well from a practical amateur astronomer with a scope, cross out all these ( even tho they are interesting subjects )

Sub-atomic particles
The Copenhagen Interpretation
Black Holes
Bubble universes and the Multiverse
Many Worlds Theory
The Holographic Proposal
Quantum entanglement
Causality, determinism and free will

now to your first point ...

Large telescopes & Astrophotography

and put that with your post title

What is the best Dobsonian telescope with a goto feature?

the bolded two parts don't really go well together ... "dobo's " are Al/Az mounts and cannot follow the curved movement of
objects across the sky for more than a minute or two of exposure time. This is because of the problem of field rotation.

Dobo's are awesome for visual observing and with a GOTO feature you can find anyone of 10's of 1000's of objects that may
be above your horizon at any given time of the year.

For decent long exposure astrophotography, an equatorial mount is needed. Then the curved path of objects across the sky can
be followed and exposure times of up to 30 minutes is easy to accomplish for a mount that is polar aligned well when used in
association with auto / manual guiding operation.

Auto guiding uses another small scope say a 50mm finder scope with an astro camera attached where the output of the camera is
sent to a computer where the signal is process and it is then used to make corrections to the motion of the equatorial mount to
overcome errors in the polar alignment and in the mount drive inaccuracies.

Manual guiding commonly uses an off-axis eyepiece system where you, the astronomer, physically keeps the eyepiece crosshairs
on your chosen guide star and you manually, with a hand controller make corrections to the mount to account for the previously
mentioned inaccuracies

So you have a decision to make
1) do you just want to do observing ?
2) or observing AND astrophotography ?

if 1) ... get the biggest dobo you can afford ... the bigger the better and a low f ratio F7 or less

eg ... an 8" dobo with GOTO
https://www.bintel.com.au/product/skywatcher-8-inch-goto-collapsible-dobsonian/?v=7516fd43adaa

if 2) ... get a decent scope ... Newtonian, Schmidt-Cassegrain, refractor ... the biggest you can afford

eg ...
8" Schmidt-Cassegrain

https://www.bintel.com.au/product/celestron-advanced-vx-8-edgehd/?v=7516fd43adaa

Note that this has a f10 focal ration which is not brilliant for astrophotography

but you could get a faster optics tube assy and put it on the same mount and have an awesome astrophotography
set-up eg ...

https://www.bintel.com.au/product/bintel-gso-bt252-f4-carbon-truss-Newtonian/?v=7516fd43adaa

10" f4 primary mirror Totally awesome ! ... if I had the money, I would own one myself ... a serious "light bucket!"
The carbon fibre framework will make it reasonably light ( for its size) but strong and easy to handle

I have one of these ... but the 9.25" version rather than the 8" version shown here

https://www.bintel.com.au/product/celestron-cpc-800-gps-xlt/?v=7516fd43adaaand one of these ...

https://www.bintel.com.au/product/skywatcher-sw120-az3/?v=7516fd43adaa

but on a GOTO equatorial mountcheers
Dave

edited to fix typos

 

[PEGELLA]

Thank you. I'm thinking really big...min 18 inch dob with goto. Interested in both astrophotography and just viewing. Anyone know about hubbleoptics.com? any reviews to read? Obsession scopes are popular too but $$$$
Peter

 

[jedishrfu]

Do some research on scope buying. You basically want one with good light gathering ability not necessarily high magnification. It also should be portable enough for your needs. Too big is not very portable.

I have an 8” Orion reflector and feel it’s too big for my needs and so prefer my 4.5” cas mak desktop scope. I maybe look to the stars a few times a year when I get the chance. Viewing in the suburbs is not the best and I’d need to travel some distance to get really good views.

 

[PEGELLA]

I had 10" Meade S-C back in the early '90s...nice scope, but still want larger images. Portability is not an issue...have SUV and might keep it at the cottage.

 

[davenn]

I had 10" Meade S-C back in the early '90s...nice scope

The largest scope I have owned was also a Meade ... the DS 10

This is a generic image from google. was a nice light bucket f4.5 focal ratio ( that was also throughout the 1990's

but still want larger images.

well you don't get larger images ... just more light gathered

. I'm thinking really big...min 18 inch dob with goto.

You will have to do a bit of serious research to do a dobo with GOTO

Interested in both astrophotography and just viewing.

As I stated earlier, dobo mounts are not good for astrophotography because of the field rotation problem

Obsession scopes are popular too but

yeah great scopes ... but ?Dave

 

[russ_watters]

Thank you. I'm thinking really big...min 18 inch dob with goto.

You will have to do a bit of serious research to do a dobo with GOTO

Let me put a finer point on that: an 18" goto Dobsonian, even if such an animal exists (I don't think so), is a bad idea.

My guess here is you are mixing up the telescope and mount.

What you are talking about now is jumping in with a professional level setup. I don't want to tell you how to spend your money, but it is a small fraction of the population that would generally be willing/capable of spending $100,000 on little more than a whim.

I had 10" Meade S-C back in the early '90s...nice scope, but still want larger images. Portability is not an issue...have SUV and might keep it at the cottage.

An 18" telescope is most assuredly *not* portable. It requires it's own observatory.

 

[russ_watters]

Orion scopes have good goto features in dobsonian mounts. You move the scope and it help find the star of interest.

Just to make sure this is clear, you said "goto", but described "push to". Goto means it moves on it's own, push to it tells you where to push it.

 

[jedishrfu]

Here's a 12" reflector from Orion:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00Z4HVMHO/?tag=pfamazon01-20

 

[jedishrfu]

Just to make sure this is clear, you said "goto", but described "push to". Goto means it moves on it's own, push to it tells you where to push it.

Yes, quite correct!

 

[jedishrfu]

Here's an 18" reflector:

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/prod...escopes_NGT18_NGT_18_Reflector_Telescope.html

 

[russ_watters]

Here's an 18" reflector:

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/prod...escopes_NGT18_NGT_18_Reflector_Telescope.html

Optcorp also offers scopes in that range.

And, hmmm, they call it "portable" at 245lb. A rare bird that one is.

 

[jedishrfu]

In the 1950s, f it had a handle its portable. The scope is collapsible so I guess you'd transport it in pieces.

It says the heaviest piece is 75lbs so its workable if you're under 30 years old. After that you call your wife to help. Ahh maybe...