Louis D

It's not so much maker as type. Celestron markets some really good scopes at the higher end of the price scale, but besmirches their good name by selling these J-B scopes at the entry level end. I would shop for a Sky-Watcher Heritage-130p Flextube, a Sky-Watcher Explorer 130PS AZ GTi, a Sky-Watcher Skyliner 150P Dobsonian, or a Sky-Watcher Skyliner 200P Dobsonian for a massive improvement, depending on your budget. Lest you think Sky-Watcher is a much better brand than Celestron at the low end based on my recommendations, just remember that both are owned by Chinese optics manufacturer Synta.

Useful when observing dim objects to brighten them up a bit? Sort of like firing off a flash from the bleachers at a concert. Of course, I made it work at my kids' school concerts by firing off double potato masher handle flashes to light 'em up from 70 feet away. The kids all knew when I was taking a picture. 😉

I'm thinking a 72 ED would work well for you. I would go with a Rigel QuikFinder to keep it compact. At 72mm and f/6, there's very little difference between ED and APO levels of correction.

Not always. If you're patient and watch ebay and craigslist, you can often find used ones in good condition for $75 to $150, sometimes with a nice fluid head still attached. That's how I picked up my and my daughters tripods. It helps to look for the older names like Manfrotto or Bogen 3068, 3051, or 3033. All are fantastic tripods that will last a lifetime. If you get really lucky, you might even score a 3058 (the beast known as the 161MK2B today). However, most folks know what that tripod is and the used prices reflect that.

For imaging or visual? Car, train, or plane travel?

I have the original version in all black with the winged eye cup. It has no detents and just a friction thumbscrew to hold it at various settings. Your later version seems so much more refined. Below are images at the 5mm and 8mm settings:

An absolute breeze to split at 80x in an 8" scope with a well figured mirror. I'll have to try splitting it with my 70 ED, 90 APO, and 127 Mak just for fun this summer to see what's possible with smaller scopes. I have a feeling the splits won't be as clean.

My write-up comparing the Paradigms/Starguiders to the HD-60s/XCel LXs.

The real acid test is to remove the mirror an put the tube at a shallow angle to the sun and see how bright the tube wall looks. I've yet to find a flat black paint that doesn't look shiny at shallow angles under these conditions. Perhaps if there was one that sprayed actual 3D particles forming tiny light traps it might work better. I'm thinking along the lines of the fake hair sprays of the 80s/90s.

The Double-Double, Albireo, and M17 also come to mind. I don't know how far south you observe from, but there's also M7, M8, and M22.

Much less of an issue in the US where it's $800. I've bought items up to about $450 without any customs issues. There's also no sales tax because the seller has no business nexus in the US.

If you plan on moving the scope around during the night to dodge trees, you'll have to realign the goto each time, so keep that in mind. It can also be challenging to find enough bright alignment stars not blocked by trees to achieve alignment.

I reach focus using a GSO coma corrector attached via a T-thread to M48 thread adapter. It also flattens the field and corrects coma at the same time.

Technically, there is also the 8.5-12mm Speers-Waler Zoom Eyepiece. Here is David Knisely's review of it. I have had the original 5-8mm for about 20 years since new. It is very sharp across the field, but it is pretty tight on eye relief for an eyeglass wearer. My eye astigmatism doesn't clean up until close to the 5mm end, so it's more of a variable plossl to me.

I would extend the legs quite a bit more to provide more guard-band stability against accidental tipping in the dark, especially if you're going to use it on a hard surface as shown rather than on grass.

Since the 250PX has a 25% central obstruction by diameter compared to 31% for the 8SE, it should provide better contrast on planetary details. However, the 180PRO has a 23% obstruction, and so should be slightly better than the 250PX. On the other hand, there are far more surfaces involved with the two CATs than with the Newt, so it comes down to quality of figure and polish in each scope. That, and the obvious aperture differences between them. For reference, the best planetary views I've had were through a 12.5" Mag1 Portaball with a Zambuto primary under steady seeing conditions. Jupiter looked about like one of those photographs created from lots of combined frames. There were all sorts of ovals, festoons, and barges.

I think you're missing a T-thread to 1.25" adapter to attach your T-ring to your barlow.

Avoid achromats then. If you're used to the sharp, color-free image of a reflector, you won't like the reduced contrast inherent in an achromat because all the colors don't focus tightly together. I'd look for a used 72ED scope and a decent side-mount alt-az unit to go with it. It will nicely complement your Dob. I bought an ST80 20 years ago and couldn't stand the poor images, so I rarely used it. About 7 years ago, I bought a used Astro Tech 72ED and absolutely loved the pin sharp stars in it. So much so, I bought a used 90mm TS APO triplet recently to gain a bit in light gathering and color correction without getting too much larger. However, it cost 4 times as much as the 72.

If that scope has a 2" focuser, I'd recommend the 30mm APM Ultra Flat Field for wide field scanning and observing. I measured mine as having a 73 degree apparent field of view and it is quite sharp at f/6. I've read reports of it being sharp to the edge to at least f/5. It is easy to use with eyeglasses.

The GSO/Revelation 2x ED 2" Barlow comes with a 2" to 1.25" adapter that recesses into the 2" tube via a notch on the side. It then has a recession in it to allow most 1.25" eyepieces to be roughly flush with the top of the 2" tube so they will remain parfocal with 2" eyepieces.

Depends on the retailer. There was a thread about a damaged eyepiece or lens in the distant past being returned to a NYC retailer with a handwritten note describing the damage tucked in the bottom of the box. Someone else on the same forum got that same item shipped to them as new with the other member's note still tucked in the box. The retailer just treated it as an ordinary return, not a damaged goods return.

I brought along my 32mm GSO/Revelation Plossl to Nebraska for the 2017 eclipse where it worked fine for widest field views in my ST80. It has very sharp optics, great coatings, a sharp field stop, and is very reasonably priced. I've never had blackout issues with it, either.

That's the way to do it. Start out with what you can afford and gradually upgrade your equipment while you learn the skies and observing skills. For me, my backyard trees grew up and blocked most of my views and my town grew from 4000 to 80,000 people in 25 years, so I'm having to look at relocating to continue observing in the future.

So start petitioning your government to match the US's $800 personal exemption amount. If you're going to leave the EU, you may as well cozy up to the US with some bilateral trade agreements. How is it fair to US retailers that it is often cheaper for US buyers to buy astro goods from UK dealers but not the other way around? That, and forgo VAT taxation on imports if the foreign sellers have no business nexus in the UK to match US state sales tax rules.

I would think this had to have occurred in the factory prior to mounting the mirror to the holder. It's speaks volumes to Chinese quality control that the mirror wasn't rejected during inspection.