I've been trained on a 10" LX200 Meade as part of my astrophysics course. It's easy to use and simple to start finding your way around the sky. It's quick to set up after the intitial input of data such as your latitude and longtitude etc.
It can be set up with an adapted mechanical camera or with a CCD for the serious amateur. It's a fairly robust telescope and fully motorised. This means you can put in a star's coordinates and hit 'goto' and it will locate the star. It comes with a catalogue containing the coordiantes of many stars, planets and deep sky objects. You simply enter a code for the object and the telescope will locate it. This makes for quick and easy viewing but can take out some of the fun of optical astronomy.
It has good resolution, optics and a variety of accessories that come with it, although these are similar to those supplied with any telescope.
The Meade has advantages over a reflector, namely that it is smaller and has a higher magnification power for the same diameter. However, a 10" Meade will cost you more than a 10" reflector. This telescope is, theoretically, portable but you'll need a car and a willing friend.
It's a good telescope to begin astrophotography on, also if one wants to start sketching lunar features or the position of planets and their satellites. A good but expensive option.
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A bit short on detail for a VH rating, but interesting nonetheless. You didn't mention price or where to get one, or how you input the co-ordinates, etc. If you update leave me a note and I'll come and take another look.
Meade brings to market an optical design favored by research facilities worldwide, the ... more
Ritchey-Chrétien, and does so at a price many enthusiasts can afford. Most professional applications are this style telescope or a gargantuan apochromatic refractor. Meade's 8.0" LX200R with UHTC coatings provides a deep space aperture in a size that can be transported within a typical vehicle by a single person, and gives all this in a complete package within reach of many an observer.
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