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I have absolutely no clue whatsoever about how to find things in the sky. Well I can point out orion and ursa major, but thats about it.
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That's a good start. Both can be used as references to find other constellations and stars. The "handle" of the Big Dipper points to Arcturus in Bootes (three sylables -Bo-Oh-Tess) - "follow the arc to Arcturus" and Spica in Virgo - "Speed on to Spica". Orion's belt points to Sirius in Canis Major to the left and Aldeberan in Taurus on the right.
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I have found a lot of information on how to locate stellar bodies using RA/DEC coordinates, however as I understand is alt-az coordinates are rarely used in star charts.
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Alt-Az coordinates are location and time dependent, so they are useless for star charts. RA-Dec coordinates are time and location independent. They are the same for all observers. If I tell you that an object is at RA 5h22m, Dec +20d45m, anybody can find it (assuming it is above your horizon).
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Here is my question. what is a preferable mount. Alt-Az, or Equitorial.
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Both, neither, depends, all of the above.
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The Meade has a GoTo feature (which really appeales to me) and can be used in either Alt-Az or Equitorial. The Dob's seem to be Alt-Az only (I may be wrong).
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A Dobsonian scope is (by definition) a Newtonian on an Alt-Az mount. Orion (among others) makes Go-To Dobs.