Telescope:
1. A catadioptric telescope equiped with altazimuth mount such as Meade ETX (Maksutov Cassegrain) are very portable. It's capable for viewing planet and bright DSO ( Deep Sky Objects ). It's suitable for planet photography but not deep sky imaging due to its slow F/ ratio ( long focal length ). Another case if you use focal reducer.

Other than Mak, there is Schmidt Cassegrain (SCT) which I am using now. Its focal ratio is always around f/10. With a f/3.3 focal reducer, your field of view is greatly increased.

2. A reflector equiped with equatorial mount such as Celestron C6-NGT are very fast ( low focal ratio ), especially Schmidt Newtonian. It's good for deep sky observing and photography. A equatorial mount with counter weight is heavier than the telescope itself. It's around 1x KG ( C6-NGT ). By the way, its aperture are much higher than the same class of catadioptric telescope. For instance, Meade ETX-105AT(4.13") costs RM4900 while Celestron C6-NGT(6") costs RM5200.

3. Refractor is the royal family of telescopes. The refractor has the highest contrast on planetary object and deep sky objects. You can get an 8" SCT (200mm) at the price of a 90mm triplet apo.

I have 2 dealers to recommend to you. They are K.K. Looi at Infinity Infocus and Jason Tan at Trifid-Optics.

Updated on 31 March 06:

My equipments
Telescope: Meade 8″ LX90 w/ Autostar #497
Imager: Philips ToUcam Pro II, Meade Lunar Planetary Imager (LPI)
Eyepieces: Super Plossl (6.4, 9.7, 12.4, 15, 20, 26, 32, 40)mm
Lunar & Planetary Filters: Moon Filter ND96

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This post has been edited by Mr.LKM: Feb 25 2007, 11:49 PM

From what I see, a Hong Kong man used a webcam and mount it on the telescope and the picture he took was in very high resolution, very clear!. The telescope is able to do auto-tracking but I don't know the price.

I think I will buy the gadgets from them. Therefore, I have to save money from now on.
Do you find it hard to look for a new comet or planet?

I can't imagine if I found a comet

It's nice *Robin is my surname

What is the time?? By the way, do u have any guide to know the time of their appearance?

Ahh~~I have to sit for exam tomorrow but I will try to get it. How many hours away between Malaysia and USA? They post their news using their own time, am I right?

Therefore, any place can be seen? Do we have to climb up to the mountain? Where is the category that the news @ NASA locate you gave us just now?

This post has been edited by Mr.LKM: Aug 12 2005, 03:37 PM

Anybody has spotted the meteor shower last night? I can't go for it as I was too tired. Hope there will be some in tonight.

Cool man, I am not sure whether I am able to buy a telescope by that date

This Thursday morning??? I better don't sleep this night

This post has been edited by Mr.LKM: Aug 24 2005, 03:07 PM

Oh bad, I just noticed large moon but no venus

So, can we spot venus at tonight?

This post has been edited by Mr.LKM: Aug 27 2005, 03:26 PM

Mars' Hoax the distance between earth and mars is not as near as August 27 2003 We need a telescope to see it more clearly.

with bare eyes? I think I will have to prepare my camera for this

Hooray, since I looked at your picture, I have taken the photo of Venus and Moon accidentally during that night. I thought I saw nothing except moon during that night, I will post it tomorrow.

I am preparing to buy a telescope. As I want to take the photo of deep sky object, the seller told me that I need a telescope at least 8 aperture for this. The lowest price of this kinds of telescopes is RM7900 and the Meade Deep Sky Imager costs RM1980... faint......

I decided to stick with ETX-90AT or ETX-105AT with Deep Sky Imager and some accesories. I am now waiting to see the outcome of ETX-105AT taking deep sky object. All the products I mentioned are manufactured by Meade.

I will post it tomorrow

Yup, but if I use LX90 for looking at deep sky object, it performs much better than ETX-105AT. The price of ETX-105AT costs RM4900... But they tell me they are now taking order of ETX PE series only. If I want to order AT, I will have to wait for few months The price of ETX-90AT is RM3900... These products are so killing..

This post has been edited by Mr.LKM: Aug 29 2005, 05:18 PM

Can you give me your email? I want to send you the price list. Who wants the price list, please leave your email address.

The product they are selling now is ETX PE series and others. ETX-90PE costs RM4500......RM600 more comparing to ETX-90AT......

Here is a photo of Moon and "not-sure" Venus


Sorry for the noise of this picture because my camera is not a DSLR The big light spot is the Moon.