Needed: Very small scope for city viewing

I've thought a few times about getting back into astronomy, really. About a year ago I sold my trusty 8" Dob because I couldn't keep it around after moving to college. It was just too big and I found myself barely using it even when I visited home on the weekends.

Now that I have a steady job, I've actually put some serious thought into it. I got into computer stuff about a year and a half ago and that's been the other thing eating my money, but I think I am making enough money to afford a small, inexpensive telescope. When I sold my Dob I decided to keep my nice binoculars because they were always lots of fun to observe with. On clear nights I could see over 20 various objects in the sky, just by bombing around with them. I didn't even need a star chart. Unfortunately, since I'm living in the city most of the time, I can't really do that. I have a smaller area of sky to observe with, light pollution, and a small room on the 5th floor of my dorm. Not ideal for astronomy. But I thought I could get a compact scope with a long focal length, primarily for observing planets. Like, a 90mm Mak. Hopefully with a tripod that will fit in a backpack along with the scope.

Any suggestions? I was reading a copy of S&T in the library where I work today, and I noticed that the price on the ETX-90 has remained at $600 but with the Autostar and tripod standard. $600 is pretty expensive but there are always the classifieds here. I don't particularly need the Autostar, as things I can't find by memory or on a star chart usually aren't worth looking at anyway. There is also the Orion 90mm Mak for about $200, as well as short-tube refractors for about the same (although those have very short focal lengths, not the best for planetary observations).

Thanks for any help you guys can give me. Astronomy seems like a more stable, carefree hobby than computers. Things don't change as fast, and I think I need that.

Luca,
If you don't need the Autorstar try the plain ETX-90 model. Many dealers were closing them out for less than $200 and you coulf likely still find one for that. used expect maybe $150 or so.
The drive is not that great but the optics in the 2 I have owned were very nice. 20x is not unreasonable with one of these. The OTA rmoves from the base so you could put it on a different mount if you wanted.
Best,
Tony Miller

Hi Luca,

Orion is having a sale on the XT4.5 Dobsonian, they seem to be a nice little scope. I also agree with Tony, the ETX is optically excellent. Also check out Orion's Maks and their 80mm ED refractor.

Good Luck,

Steve

Luca,
No one has mentioned the TeleVue Ranger but you might want to consider that. They do come up on Astromart from time to time. And if you add a light Bogen tripod, you've got a nice grab and go with excellent optics. This is not to take away from the ETX90, just to give you another option. I had a Ranger-that lead to a Pronto-that lead to a TV85...
Good luck,
-Curtis
--
--
--
--
--
--
-

In fact, there's a nice 3221 on Astromart right now!
Check it out!
-Curtis
--
--
--
--
--
--

I predict that ad/msg will be gone by......12:00

Wanted to thank everyone here for their suggestions. Yes, $600 is a lot of money in general, not just for an ETX. I was hoping to spend no more than $300 complete for the setup (including a tripod of some sort), which shouldn't be THAT hard as long as I limit myself to lower-end, used models with generic rather than premium eyepieces. What I need would be:

-80-90mm refractor or 90mm Maksutov.
-Sturdy alt-az mount.
-Red dot pointer.
-Eyepieces providing powers of 50x or lower, 100x or thereabouts, and 150x or higher. The scope I get probably won't be able to handle 200x anyway.

What I don't need:

-Equatorial mount, because I'd never bother to polar align it and it's harder to use anyway.
-Magnifying finder scope, because I can usually find stuff on the first shot with a red dot pointer, and magnifying finder scopes confuse the heck out of me.
-Wide-field eyepieces. As much as I love them (and I've owned a few in the past), they're an expensive luxury, not a necessity.
-Filters, go-to systems, enhanced coatings/mirrors/optics, motor drives, widgets, and gizmos. Some of these are useful if you know what you're doing. Some aren't. None apply to me.

I will also admit that after owning a Newtonian reflector, I'm paranoid about collimation. I don't want to have to collimate my scope, which is one reason I was looking at a Mak in the first place (plus the fact that Maks are so compact). My Dob was a great scope but I hated worrying about collimation, especially since the collimation screws on mine never worked very well, and I was never sure exactly how to do it anyway. I don't expect great optics, just something pretty good that won't require excessive tinkering. If I have to collimate, fine, but I want it to be a simple procedure that I only have to do once... with my reflector, I was always thinking about those people who collimate every single night, wondering if I should do the same.

I realize some of you have a huge amount of money dedicated to your hobby, with people talking about Questars, 9.25" SCTs, and $400+ ED refractor OTAs (and yes I know that there are 80mm refractors that go for nearly 10x as much as the Orion), but I am just a poor college student with a low paying job and tuition bills to pay. I might be able to stretch and make it to $400 for a setup but I absolutely don't want to go over $400 for everything, and $300 is really a better estimate of what I'd like to spend (maybe $350 after eyepieces, tripod, and other accessories).

I've heard great things about Stellarvue refractors - good build quality, compact, sturdy, and with good optics. There are also those generic 80mm short tube refractors that are under $100 used these days, and 90mm Maksutov OTAs that cost no more than $200. As much as I'd love a Stellarvue I might have to either get a cheaper one or wait longer. I'm already planning on waiting until sometime in February, but I might instead buy sometime in summer, after school is out.