Editing What Telescope (section)

=== Planetary above $500 ===
Planetary above this price is hard to write a guide for because there are so so many options for cameras, telescopes, etc. The ideal planetary setup in our opinion has large aperture, a quality mono camera and equatorial tracking. EQ mounts can also be used for your DSO setup, a lot of us share one mount between the two. You could also stick with the dobsonian from the previous entry but get a better camera.

Option 1:

* Telescope: [http://www.telescope.com/Telescopes/Dobsonian-Telescopes/Classic-Dobsonians/Orion-SkyQuest-XT8-Classic-Dobsonian-Telescope/pc/1/c/12/sc/13/p/102005.uts Orion Skyquest Xt8] - $399
* Camera: [https://astronomy-imaging-camera.com/product/asi120mc-s ZWO ASI120MC] (color) - $150

Option 2:

* Mount: Orion Sirius (new): $1100 new on Orions Website
* OTA: 8" newtonian (new): $500 on Orions website
* Camera: ZWO ASI120MC: $150 on ZWOptical site

Again, you can find these products used on websites like [http://www.cloudynights.com/classifieds/ Cloudynights] and they will offer significant discounts compared to buying new. While this option is obviously a lot more expensive than the other options, you can use this setup for DSO imaging if you have another camera like a DSLR. That said, it isn't recommended to get started using such a high focal length such as this for DSOs. The Sirius mount will be the best upgrade you could make here, as you could easily use it to image DSOs.

Schmidt-Cassegrains are also OK for planetary imaging scopes. The issue with these is their cost to aperture ratio is much higher than newtonians, an 8" SCT is often more than double the price of an 8" newtonian and will not produce noticeably better images. Bigger budgets also allow you to buy larger telescopes and accessories such as barlows, just make sure your mount can handle the extra aperture. Imaging through a dobsonian with a long focal length isn't recommended because tracking is difficult so you won't be able to capture as many frames.

An example planetary imaging setup:

* Mount: Skywatcher EQ6
* OTA: Skywatcher 300P
* Camera: ASI120MM
* Other accessories: Televue 2.5x Powermate, Astro-engineering 4x Imagemate, Astronomiks proplanet 742nm IR filter

There is a good deal of variety out there when it comes to setups and there is no one "right" solution.  Ask around and try to find what works best for you in terms of image quality and your overall budget.