hi mike , im not too far from you in kirkdale.
this "what scope to buy" is a pain isnt it :/
im pretty much a noob @ astronomy too and have just gotten onto my 2nd scope.
heres some considerations i found important.
have you got transportation ? sometimes you wanna get out to those really dark places.
do you think your gonna use the scope maybe 5 times then put it away and forget about it ? if so dont get an expensive one,
its kinda a vicious circle tho the crapper the scope you get the less likely to use it i find anyway.
most of the stunning images we see in magazines are a result of time exposed photo's not really what you will see through the lens , ive never tried astrophotography tho, but for this im sure you need a scope which tracks the movement of the obkect otherwise your exposure is streaky.
for 200 quid you could get a cheap goto scope, altho they need to be in the right position first before this is useful, and if you know enough to setup a goto scope correctly then you may as well learn the stars imho.
it seems scopes with elecronic wizadry pay closer attention[at least in the cheap end] to the electronic wizzadry than the optics.
for the £200 quid mark id probably get one of these
http://www.telescopeplanet.co.uk/ViewProdDetails.asp?prod_code=PON07I000031then again...what do i know
ps for any noobs like me this is a great program to learn the stars from and find stuff in the night sky
http://www.stellarium.org/Stellarium is a free open source planetarium for your computer. It shows a realistic sky in 3D, just like what you see with the naked eye, binoculars or a telescope.
It is being used in planetarium projectors. Just set your coordinates and go.
