Bobby1970

Hi again. Your pics look amazing and on that scope to, very impresive I live in a village called old dalby near Melton Mowbray. I have made up my mind and going with what I feel is right for me. I am going to buy the ST 120mm on the AZ3 mount and with that I am buying a Celestron X-CEL LX 2x Barlow Lens 1.25. And a  Celestron 6 or 7mm x-cel lx eyepiece 1.25". And a SkyWatcher Variable Polarising Filter 1.25. I might replace the 25mm eyepiece also with a better quality one to. What do you think about this. Your advice will be much appreciated.

                                                     Regards. Dave:

IMHO, i probably wouldn't bother with the barlow right away.

The 25mm eyepiece is not too bad, the 10mm is not too good lol.

As i said i have a Celestron 9mm and it is a good eyepiece. I think you will be more than pleased with the scope certainly for a first scope, if you find the views aren't good enough at high mag then get a 102mm or 127mm Mak to compliment the ST120. This is precisely what i have done.

I think a 6 or 7mm eyepiece is the Maximum i would go to in this scope, and i don't think i have ever barllowed my 6mm one. It is just too much for the scope. i usually try to keep at 100x or less. Sometimes with astronomy less mag is better for viewing certain objects. For instance M31 andromeda galaxy is better with less mag even in a better scope. lol

At the end of the day if you find you want something better then you would get sa good chunk of your money back by selling the scope on. 

Don't overthink it, there is not one good scope for everything. But my ST102 has done me pretty well over the years. 

With some solar film to make a filter they make a decent tool for observing the sun in white light too. 

Enjoy

Thanks for your kind advice. Can you please say if would be able to see the moon up-close and see all those creators with the Celestron 6 or 7mm x-cel lx eyepiece 1.25 I mentioned? with the ST 120mm