Try to get to a star party if you can. www.finderscope.com has a good search for local astronomy clubs. That's really the best way to decide what you want. See some of this stuff for yourself. The Dob will give you the biggest scope for the money. But there is no tracking and it's not really suited for photography. The Megellan is a computer finder, it dosen't move the scope, you move the scope and there are counters that go to zero when you get to the item. Sometimes they work great. The SCT is very popular both visually and for photography. You can get a decent size aperture in a smaller package. But the best photos in my opinion come from the APO refractors. I can't believe some of the pictures that come from 4 and 5 inch APO refractor scopes. They are very expensive and not as good for deep sky observing because of the smaller aperture. Like I said, get out and see some of this stuff, it's the only way to be sure.
That's it;
BOB SAL

• What scope offers the most clarity? - njdevsfn95 - January 3, 2002 - 00:26 UTC
  • The clearest I've seen - bobsal - January 3, 2002 - 14:13 UTC
    • how much was your 12" SCT? - njdevsfn95 - January 3, 2002 - 22:29 UTC
      • Meade - bobsal - January 4, 2002 - 16:22 UTC