bingevader

Congratulations! From small sparks, neutron stars are created!

If Starry Nights came with the 'scope, it would be worth a look, it's not cheap otherwise. Stellarium in free. It's what I use, mostly. I do have Celestron's Sky Portal on my phone, which is good.

Depends on the condition of the 1° and 2° mirrors and how much money is being asked for it!

All of my EPs work very well with an 8" dob.

I have both and there are very good in my 'scope if your budget will stretch that far.

If you look at the plossl ranges on the various websites, you can see that the top glass element reduces in size as the focal length reduces. I struggle below an 8mm in that sort of EP as the eye relief is too tight for me. You may not have a problem though, and the Baader and Vixen plossls will give excellent views (no experience of the Orion).

Yes, more magnification might help, but the limiting factor (along with the size of the 'scope) will be the weather. My views of Mars have been fairly limited atm. and the best view the other night was at around 100x magnification. Do you have a budget in mind, because it depends what you mean by 'good'!? A lot of the middle of the road eyepieces are actually rather decent these days. With the shorter focal length eyepieces, the eye relief can get a little tight. I have the Williams Optics 6mm EP which is very decent with good eye relief. I have the OVL Nirvana ES 82° 7mm EP and that also provides a wider field. The advantage of that is that it gives a longer drift time to observe, before the object disappears off the edge. I've also used the 8mm BST which is very decent and very reasonably priced. Had you considered a 2x Barlow? it effectively doubles the focal length of the 'scope and so doubles the magnification. It has the advantage that the eye relief is maintained.

It's 2" smaller in mirror size. However, it is considerably lighter. At f10 it will be even less picky than the SW with eyepieces. I've never used the goto system with either, so can't comment on that, sorry.

Just as a little aside, I've always wondered if anyone has tried to hold Explore Scientific to some of the prices they quote on their website. There are always misplaces decimal points all over the place! At the moment in the New Offers section, there're deep sky astro cameras for 1 and 2 Euros.

Maybe not 'Anyone'. Or is it that I am just easily pleased? 😆 I'm still loving the views and am always amazed at what I can see from my own back garden.

Imagine a pair of 8" binos! I think the problem maybe be one of expectation. I have been observing the planets through binoculars recently and have been amazed. Jupiter is unmistakably a planet with moons (I'm not expecting any detail though)! And Saturn is very definitely oval. I have an 8" 'scope and can see plenty of detail. However, the seeing conditions will have a great impact. Just remember how far away they are and the relative size of the implement you are using from your back garden. It always amazes me! There's glass at the front of the 8se.

Sorry, only just caught up with your post, but I am afraid I don't have the 16mm and so I am unable to answer your question.

R.I.P. A splendid age! Got to call that a good innings and life well lived!

I have looked through one of these a couple of times and they are very decent indeed. Dismantles into OTA, mount and tripod which would go into two kit bags relatively easily. Comes in at 7.65kg. However, the 1° mirror is fixed.

Or how about this!

This gives you some idea.

If your budget doesn't stretch that far and 'staying away' would mean not having one, then I would say no, get the others. I have the 2" ES UHC filter and use it successfully! I intend putting the 2" ES Olll filter on the Christmas list at some point in the future.

I'm such a light weight! 20 ish years since the etx90 and I still only have two!

We've gone as low as Year 2 so far in school, so that's 6 and 7 years old, with good success. Maybe start saving. I'd recommend something easy to use and fairly robust, stargazing is definitely a hands on experience with children. With that in mind, if the budget should run to it by then, I'd avoid goto 'scopes. You will be forever realigning!

Happy SGL Birthday Helen! And everyone else!

Welcome back.

Absolutely, the jumps in magnification are much greater at the lower focal lengths.

Croeso!

I don't think that will make any difference! I am going to try a different phone.

I'm sorry, I don't know what any of that means! I know.