I like the xt10, but i am thhinking about the goto celestron 6e. I live in a light poluted area (dallas). Thoughts?

I don't know the first thing about the celestron 6e so I can't compare the two. When it comes to light pollution the type of telescope won't make a difference anyway. There are only two solutions: 1) a filter for urban areas (I have one and the results were mixed at best), and 2) get yourself to the country! One thing I can say is that I live in a light polluted area too (downtown El Paso/Juarez) and I'm very happy with the xt10 -- but I'm much happier when I can lug the beast out to the desert.

Have you ever been able to see color in any of the nebula's you have viewed with the Orion XT10 series of telescopes? (given light to medium light pollution)

Hi David, I live near a major metro area, but with a twist: most of the city lights on the U.S. side of the border are blocked by a mountain, and the city of Juarez, Mexico, turns their lights down after midnight just for astronomers. Binoculars or even my 3.5" rarely show more than green before midnight, but after midnight you can see a hint of blue with the 3.5. With the 10" the color blue is visible even before midnight, and after it is much more pronounced, it is strikingly beautiful, and ghostly. I've never seen any other colors though, even when I've taken the 10" to some of the darkest skies in the U.S., such as Cloudcroft, New Mexico (a little over an hour from my house and over 9000' in elevation, so everything in a telescope is razor sharp.) I've also not been able to see any other colors with much larger scopes in the same locations, so I think the colors are only going to show up in photos.

could i see neptune with the x10?

Matt's right. Even if you are in orbit around Neptune, there's not much to see. It's mostly just a big blue ball with some stripes of clouds and I believe it sometimes has storms like Jupiter. All those details were only recently discovered by sending ships there. Until we actually got there, the world's best telescopes in the best locations did not see any of that. Details of Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn are difficult to near impossible to see with this telescope. You'll defiantly see Jupiter's primary moons and maybe Jupiter's eye and cloud bands with some work and the right eye pieces on a good night. You'll see Saturn's rings but in little to no detail.I've heard you can see Pluto with it and that's WAY out there and tine-tiny. But you're going to have to pretty much master it's use or get the GoTo version in order to find Neptune or Pluto. And if you do find them, they won't look any different than stars, which is part of the reason they are so hard to find in the first place.But there is stuff to see, especially if you have dark skys. Even with some light pollution you can see Andromeda, the Pleiades, Orion's Nebula, the moon, Jupiter and its moons, Mars, Saturn's rings and such.

can it be connected to a laptop

Not exactly, with the purchase of a t-ring and universal adapter a DSLR camera can be coupled to this telescope. The camera could then be coupled to a laptop. That's how I shoot with my telescopes that are dedicated for astrophotography. HOWEVER, this is not the best type of telescope for that sort of combination because it has no motors for tracking. It will not counteract the earth's rotation and the target will keep moving out of your eyepiece. You could only take pictures of a few bright objects like planets. I have seen some good pictures of planets that were taken with dobsonian telescopes. The purpose of a dobsonian is to get the largest, brightest, best visual views for the least expense. My XT10 offers better views than any of my other scopes. My other scopes, however, use a tripod that offers better tracking for photography. If you want the ability to track for long exposures you'll have to pay more. It is hard to find a quality photography telescope for much under $2,000. My complete photography set up is worth about $4,000. Still, when I want to view the night sky, I go back to my XT10.

Coating	Aluminum;Silicon Dioxide
Focal Length Description	1200 millimeters
Finderscope	Reflex
Eye Piece Lens Description	Plossl
Mount	Altazimuth Mount
Focus Type	Manual Focus
Item Weight	53.4 Pounds
Exit Pupil Diameter	4.15 Millimeters
Objective Lens Diameter	254 Millimeters
Item Dimensions D x W x H	22"D x 22"W x 51"H

Orion SkyQuest XT10 Classic Dobsonian Telescope for Adults - Big, High Power Scope for the Astronomy Enthusiast - Accessories Included

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