A friend who has gone to Asia for professional reasons for a while has entrusted me with the care of his Celestron 8.

There was a time when I thought I wanted one of these since it seemed to be a great deal of light gathering ability for the money.

Frankly, I'm disappointed in it.

If I'm willing to invest 2-3k dollars in a scope, what can I do that is better than this Celestron? It seems the rather short focal length makes it hard to resolve anything easily or is the mirror possibly misaligned?

It works great as a BIG telephoto lens for regular photography, but it doesn't seem to be that great of an Astronomical telescope. Frankly, much smaller apeture refractors give a superior resolution to my eye anyway.

Suggestions?