mikeDnight

They are all great telescopes! If I were in your happy position, I'd keep the 127 for portability and buy the 180 as an observatory scope, even if I didn't have an observatory.

I've owned and used extensively many of the high end, wide angle eyepieces, and spent thousands on them. All introduced false colour to the image and none had the clarity and transparency of my old pseudo Masuyama super plossl's. I may have lost some negligible apparent field but I've gained eye relief, on axis sharpness and level of transparency that's hard to match in multi element wide angle designs. For lunar & planetary observing in my binoviewer they are truly exquisite! Even on dso's they are a joy to use, although I still use some single wide angle eyepieces on the deep sky.

I'd go for the Skywatcher. They are excellent! I've never been a fan of anything made by Orion UK.

I don't believe its your ageing eyesight that meant the 102 didn't bring you too much joy on dso's Paul. Looking out of my kitchen window at 7am this morning, I counted 35 aircraft vapour trails littering my eastern sky. It's these things that ruin our views. It's about time there was another Icelandic volcanic eruption so as to ground those filthy flying machines, but this time it should be a big one, lasting a decade. The seeing conditions improved dramatically the last time the plane's were grounded, returning my skies to how they used to be back in the early 80's. Peddelo's are the future!

Thomas Gwyn Elger produced a lunar map many years ago, and in it he depicts the rille shown in your image. I have Elgers moon map on my observatory wall, which is probably a bit risky as its an antique and may suffer in the cold air, but its a shame not to use it! It was a local astronomer, John Coates, who referred to it as Elgers Rille about 20 years ago, after I enquired about its name. John was an avid lunar observer and was familiar with Elgers map. Ive never seen any map refer to the rille by name or give it any designation, so as Elger drew it on his map, I've always been happy calling it by his name. Many more modern maps barely hint at its existance, and when I first discovered it for myself around 20 years ago while sketching the area, one self appointed lunar expert claimed it was nothing but a "flight of fancy"! Since then I've taken whatever experts say with a pinch of salt!! Another wonderful and brilliant planetary observer Richard Baum, who was very dear to me and a great source of encouragement, hit the nail on the head when he said "Many Look, Few Observe"!

I've observed it numerous times but very intermittently. From my site Mercury can't be seen in the west due to a hill and high tree line. Observing it during the day when its high takes some bottle and a driven mount. I do have a great eastern view but sometimes find it a struggle to motivate myself to observe it in the morning. Attached was my last observation of Mercury, but it proves it can be a worthwhile target for the visual observer, even with a small scope.

You've caught Elgers Rille nicely in your pic Craig, as it crosses the width of the Alpine Valley. That beats the lunar X and smiley face craters. It's usually detectable in a sharp scope, even when the valley is some distance from the terminator. When the lighting is right and the seeing is steady, Elgers Rille can be traced as it traverses the mountains right up to the shore of Mare Frigoris, and also down to the shore of Mare Imbrium. In both instances it connects to rilles that trace the shore line of both Mare. It's a feature which is rarely ever mentioned, which to my mind, indicates that the Moon isn't being observed anywhere near as carefully as it deserves. If you havent already, you'll notice this rille every time from now on. ☺

Very impressive Paul.

The FC76DCU would be my choice. Or would it!? If you forget about length & weight and ignore cost, the FC100D apochromats are Very nice!

Very nice ! I suspect some of the false colour comes from the phone camera, but also that the CA in the scope is not as evident visually as it appears in the pic's.

There's something really magical about that sketch. Thanks for sharing it!

Being just a little dim, I thought you'd seen a new dome cosmetic!

That's a near perfect grab & go set-up Neil. I found my 80mm Equinox very quickly became my most used scope, and I'd often use it in preference to my 120mm Equinox. I'd nip out for a quick five minute look at the Moon or Jupiter and find myself still sat on a frosty garden bench, cold and wet, over an hour later. With a binoviewer and a couple of cheap eyepieces, my Equinox 80ED would easily reveal five belts on Jupiter, including festoons and barges etc. Shadow transits looked as black as Indian ink and the Great Red Spot was easy to follow. The moon through the 80ED and binoviewer took on a life of its own and was so sharp and 3D it was almost as if I was viewing the Moon from a spaceship window just a couple of hundred mile above its surface. A binoviewer would be a very worthwhile addition to your G&G! So impressive was my little 80mm Equinox that it soon worked itself out of a job. It's ease of use outweighed the aperture advantage of the 120ED, and I eventually decided to sell them both and buy the grab & go FC100DC. I can resist anything but temptation!

That's another hornets nest!

A 4" ED refractor will be far more versatile than a 5" Mak, as it will give you the wide field views a SCT or Mak Cass can't. A 4" ED like Stu suggested above would be a perfect complement to your 8" SCT. Another option may be a second hand SW 120ED, yet it is still easily transportable and doesn't need a heavy mount. The ED refractor will also have the added advantage of being truly sharp with great definition and very high contrast.

I don't wilfully destroy anything unless it pauses a serious threat! If Bees had decided to make a home for themselves in my observatory I would happily leave them alone until they moved on. Spiders are more than welcome and I never kill them. But wasps and hornets are not welcome either in my home or my observatory, and if wasps began building a nest in my observatory or in my home, I would kill them without a second thought. They are potentially life threatening, so to encourage them to remain is mindless stupidity. Destroying a wasps nest will have zero impact on the overall wasp population, and to imply that it will is also mindless stupidity. Perhaps being stung by a few wasps might cause you to reevaluate priorities. Trying to explain to a child who's been stung by a wasp or wasps, that wasps are really quite nice like Bees and buttercups, is going to be a hard one to pull off convincingly, especially if that child suffers from anaphylactic shock and dies. I was once stung on the end of my thumb by a Bee when i was 5 years old but I still like Bees. I've had a meat pie stolen out of my hand by a duck, but I still like ducks. A sheep once stole my hotdog and onions, and seagulls dive bombed my fish & chips, but i still like sheep and seagulls. And ive been stung on the throat by a wasp and will kill wasps from now till doomsday to protect myself and my family from their vicious, unprovoked aggression.

The 10mm XW is one of the purest, most contrasty DSO eyepieces ive ever owned.

Morpheus all the way! 76°'s of high contrast heaven with large eye lens and no kidneybean. Also, they are light weight, slim enough for binoviewer use and significantly cheaper, and they don't suffer from those infernal undercuts, which in the case of TV are the most savage of any eyepiece ever I've used. If you get chance to read Bill Polini's Morpheus review on CN before you get drawn into the Televue £££ black hole, I'd suggest you do so.

They are the devil's spawn, and killing them will do no harm whatsoever to the local ecology. Treating them as if they something to encourage is bonkers, as they are vicious and dangerous pests. For my part I shall continue to encourage Bees, but I shall merrily kill every wasp that looks at me funny!

These things are not Bee's, there is nothing nice about them. I would kill them without a second thought!!

Personally, I'd rather go for better than bigger. A 5" telescope of top quality will be much less of a hand full when compared to a 20", yet can deliver some of the finest (though not necessarily the brightest) views, if you're reasonably well dark adapted. I'd much prefer a 5" apochromat such as my Takahashi FS128.

I've found Kson/Ascention Super Abbe Orthoscopics will give even the best high end eyepieces a thrashing when used in a binoviewer, so there's no need to double up on expensive brands and designs. TMB Super Monocentrics are some of the best lunar and planetary eyepieces I've ever owned, but the Super Abbe's are noticeably better when used in my cheap revelation binoviewer. The Super Abbe's usually cost between £35 to £25 new! Skywatcher 2X Delux barlow is also optically excellent and great even when used in a high end apochromat. Other great binoviewer eyepieces not costing the earth are the old Celestron 5 element Ultimas, Orion Ultrascopics, Parks Gold and Antares Elite. Takahashi LE's are great too but the price goes up because of the name. Above are 35mm, 25mm, 18mm, 12.5mm & 7.5mm pairs. (Celestron Ultima, Baader Eudiascopic and Parks Gold 5 element Pseudo Masuyama super plossl's)

Is the Cat allowed to be on a refractor thread?

In 36 years I've rarely ever seen Peter without his bobble cap. It must have been near tropical weather when this pic was taken!

Most of the time I keep both eyes open even when viewing through a single eyepiece Ben, or I use a blackout hood or blanket to block out stray light. It's much more relaxing that way, and personally I find it more comfortable and less distracting than an eye patch.