10" newtonian help needed

[Dillbalach]

Well I have been learning the sky for 2 years with my trusty bino's and now I am planning to purchase my first scope. Which is going to be a 10" newtonian reflector.
I thought i had it sused and I was planning to get the Orion SkyQuest XT10 IntelliScope http://www.scsastro.co.uk/it030016.htm. But I have found the Celestron C10-N http://www.uk-telescopes.co.uk/Celestron%20C10-N.htm for a similar price.
I know that the Orion has the go to and this version of the Celestron does not but I am not overly concerned about that as I am pretty good at locating things myself.
I am planning to use it for observing our solar system and deep sky objects (a bit of everything really) and I am looking to see if anyone here has used either or preferably both to get a unbiased opinion.

Sky at night magazine gave the Celestron a best buy in there recent testing.

Cheers in advance. :)

[redshifter]

I have the Orion XT10 (non intelliscope version) and I've really enjoyed it over the 5 years I've had it. I've made a few modifications, but it is quite usable out of the box. I would recommend a longer eye relief eyepiece to replace the 10mm plossl that comes with the XT10, but the 25mm that comes with it is pretty good. I enjoy the non-intelliscope version, as IMO finding stuff myself is half the fun, and forces one to learn the sky.

I use the 9.5mm version of this line of eyepieces instead of the 10mm: http://www.telescope.com/control/product/~category_id=eyepieces/~pcategory=accessories/~product_id=E0010 and it works well for me. I have several other eypeices as well, a 17mm Vixen Lanthanum wide gets a lot of use as it works very well for deep sky objects. http://www.vixenoptics.com/acc/lvw_eyepieces.html

[RickJ]

If you don't need the push to then I'd go with the basic XT10 and save the difference for other things as Redshifter did. Where you plan to go in he future though can have some say on this. An equatorial mount like on the Celestron will be considerably less stable than a dob mount. So for viewing the Dob is far better in my opinion. A CG-5 can barely hold a long tube like the Orion scope due to the lever arm it gets. Focusing a somewhat shaky image isn't as easy as focusing a solid one for instance. At f/4.7 you need to hit focus dead on. A dob mount is by far the most stable for the bucks. The eyepiece though will be at a more convenient height in the equatorial scope. You pay for that height through increased vibration.

But if planetary photography is something you want to do in the future then an equatorial mount is the way to go. I see nothing in the specs to indicate it has dual axis drive or a guider input so it would work only for planetary photography or piggy back camera wide field photography.

A scope like the basic XT10 can be put on a drive platform for similar capability and far higher stability any time in the future. So again that's a nod to the dob between these two scopes. I don't know but doubt the pointing of the intelliScope system works on a drive platform however so the basic may be a better choice if you don't need the push too capability. I'd use that money for more and better eyepieces and other accessories such as a good star atlas, Tiron level or higher, red led light to read it etc.

Biggest problem with a 10" is identifying the zillion faint fuzzies it shows you. Try to figure out which of several is the M object in the Virgo Cluster can be challenging to a beginner. Then which is the NGC you want in the cluster gets even more "interesting". A nice problem to have however!

All scopes are a compromise, there is no one perfect one. Guess that's why I have 8 of them. Only you can decide where to make the compromise. Check to see if there's an astronomy club in your area and attend a few star parties. There you will learn the compromises inherent in each type of scope and thus better be able to determine which ones you can live with and which you can't.
http://www.astronomyclubs.com/

Rick

[redshifter]

I didn't click the links provided, I assumed the Celestron was a dobsonian mount as well. Given that the Celestron is an EQ mounted scope, I'd definitely go with the Orion. The dob mount is very stable. There's no guarantee the EQ mount on the Celestron will be stable, and mounting a 10" reflecting scope on an EQ mount can be a set up for instability issues, esp. considering the price of the Celestron mount in question.

If you have astrophotography ambitions, get the XT for now and learn the sky and astronomy. Then get a dedicated astrophoto rig when you feel you're ready to take the plunge.

[Siguy]

Don't go with the C10 equatorial. Though the dollar is weak and it is tough to do a comparison, Celestron scopes are overpriced in the UK. I would say that the C10 N-GT is a good scope normally, but the scope you linked is actually a C10 tube mounted on an inferior EQ5 non-goto mount for the same price that you pay for one a CG-5 computerized goto mount here. Even if it was the same I wouldn't recommend it unless you really like equatorial mounts, as it is much less stable than a Dobsonian base.

I would then recommend the Intellescope, but I just looked and the scope you linked does not have the Intelliscope computerized push-to, you need to buy the controller separately as an upgrade. The XT10i with push-to in the US is the same price as the one without that you linked. Another case of American scopes being overpriced in the UK.

I personally would recommend some more local telescope manufactures/distributors such as Orion Optics UK (http://www.orionoptics.co.uk/) or Skywatcher.

Though for push-to, Orion Intelliscopes are the only ones I know that have that feature, so if you absolutely must have it, you will have to spend another £99 on the Intelliscope controller to go with the XT10i you linked.