Help with Telescope purchase

Hello everyone,
I am new to this forum & kinda new to astronomy. I live in central Louisiana. I am away from any city lights completely. I own an old homemade (flea market bought) 10" dob. reflector. I don't know if optics are up to par or not. But I think I am seeing some fairly good looks at Jupiter, Saturn & Moon. I have collimated it myself with a eyepiece. I also own a pair of Celestron Pro 10x50. My question is:
I am interested in purchasing a new or used telescope. Should I purchase a "go to" mounted telescope or learn the sky myself. Portability is not a problem as I am on 20 acres of land. Should I purchase a refractor, mak-newt, cass., different reflector. I know you are wondering what I like to look at (deep sky or planets). Well I thought Andromeda Galaxy was extremely beautiful in my dob.,but other deep sky objects looked too small to enjoy. I think I find myself going back to Jupiter,Saturn & the Moon. Also I am willing to spend around $1000 to $1200. I do prefer quality equipment. If you need to ask me more questions, please do, because I would like to purchase wisely for my needs. Thanks very much in advance.....

Clyde ([email protected])

Hello.

I am fairly new to astronomy as well. I have had my 10inch Orion dob for about a year and a half and love it. I would think that the 10 inches would last you for a while with the deep sky objects and for planets and the moon maybe something like a used Intes mk67 on a CG-5 mount might be able to fit right into your price range.

That is just a thought

I currently have a Discovery PDHQ 10" Dob and have found it to have extremely fine optics. To make a long story short, I have had the following: TV Pronto (still have this), Orion (Vixen) VX-120 refractor, Celestron 8 (old, orange tube), Discovery 10" (still have), Cave 12.5" f/6, Coulter 13.1", and a Meade 16" Equatorial Reflector. I would HIGHLY recommend my current setup - i.e. a small, high quality, wide field refractor and a 10" Dob (I like f/6 'cause it's GREAT on planets). Anything bigger is REALLY hard to move around and anything smaller isn't "quite good enough". I was just at the Laurel Highlands Star Cruise and found that my Dob can hang in there with any but the biggest of the Dobs, due to it's quality optics.

Oh yeah, I've also got the Orion Megaview 15X80 binocs - also highly recommended.

With 20 acres, I think I would have some kind of permanant setup with a big equatorial 'scope, but still keep a 10" for going to star parties and a small refractor for quick looks.

Good luck and let us know what you end up with.

Pat