Zermelo

"... OK Midjourney, /imagine that a mainstream astronomy kit provider started producing some really cool, semi-professional stuff, and exhibited it at a show somewhere a long way away. Create some photos that might be taken there, by a lucky visitor. Oh, and tease the viewer by blurring some of the key information... "

If you were happy to order from abroad, even cheaper: https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/412945-svbony-zoom-eps-on-sale/?do=findComment&comment=4433978

If you really did want to spend up to £100 on a "Barlow", I'd go for a x2 telecentric multiplier like this or this. They have some advantages over the regular Barlow design (there is some discussion and links here). But if I were you, I'd stick with a cheaper, decent, conventional Barlow like this one. You could use the Barlow with the Stellalyra 8-24mm, if you are already committed to it, or perhaps have a look at the SV315 (the Svbony 7-21mm mentioned by @Mr Spock above, £42.49 in the sales), which has very good reviews. I am currently testing out an SV125 (9-27mm), with which I'm also impressed. Finally, as also suggested above, you could try the SV215 3-8mm planetary zoom unBarlowed, which would give a continuous range of magnifications. It is a very decent item (my own review here), but will set you back a little over the £100, even in the sales. As has already been said, plenty of options.

There's a Black Friday deal on UK Amazon, £110.49, 12 left.

Those higher mag Barlow tend to be used for imaging rather than visual. One rule of thumb is that the maximum magnification in ideal conditions is around twice the scope aperture in millimeters, so ~x300 for your scope. But, in the UK at least, the usable magnification is often less than this due to seeing conditions. I would save your money for something else.

Get thee behind me, Satan (other malevolent deities are available)

Is that a fancy name for one of these?

Yes, perhaps I should have said "settle up" rather than "settle down".

I've seen wildly varying prices on different sites. I'm assuming it will settle down with time.

Excellent. Many people use a combination of red dot and optical finder. With Goto, I tend to use just the optical finder.

The only filter I've found to help with planets was the cheapest one I possess: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/404621900566?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=oz251vuyrrs&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=IL6Mz5D7S4O&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY though I've not yet tried it on Venus. FLO says: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/flo-guides-colour-filters-to-improve-lunar-and-planetary-visual-observing.html Agena says: https://agenaastro.com/articles/choosing-a-color-planetary-filter.html Also this thread:

Yes, a combination of horizontal and vertical flips is the same as a rotation of 180 degrees. I think the SW 25mm in the Heritage 130 should give you a true field of view of around 1.9 degrees. That's not bad, but my 9x50 optical finder has a TFOV of around 5.5 degrees. So you'll need to work a bit harder with a red dot and wide field eyepiece. I was using a Skymax 127, so slightly less aperture than yours, but a much longer focal length, and so I get higher magnifications. 65 Psc is 4.3", and the components are fairly equal at +5.55 and +6.33, so even with the indifferent seeing it was quite an easy split at 9mm (x167), in both a Morpheus and Svbony 9-27mm zoom. Finding it with goto was easy, it put me within 0.25 degrees. I think doubles are great targets, especially in lighter skies.

I also observed 65 Psc on Friday. Yes, Pisces is a bit devoid of waypoints if you're star-hopping, especially in brighter skies. What scope are you using, and what finder(s) do you have? I have a goto mount and RACI finder, and it's usually quite simple to match the starfield in the finder to a chart, unless I'm close to a bright moon. I'm not familiar with the app incarnation of Stellarium, but in SkySafari you can flip the chart E-W and N-S to match the view in your optical finder or scope. If I had to star-hop then, yes, Delta Andromeda and straight down to the horizon, a little more than my finder's FOV.

As no-one has mentioned it yet in this thread, I'll link to this perennial favourite (see the chart at bottom), with the caveat that "difficulty" is, of course, a subtle and multi-faceted attribute; ymmv.

In order of R.A. : 79, 68, 83, 6, 7, 69, 70, 54, 55 I need another visit to a site with a good southern horizon, or to move house, whichever comes first.

Good luck, in B6/7 you will need a bit. But bagging M1 is a good omen. I have 9 left to find, all of them southerly, a problem with my home observing spot. You will be able to re-use that description for quite a few 😊

The discussion in here, and linked threads, might be useful

Very interesting, thanks for posting. It looks like we need to extend the list of "things that needed to be right, in order for us to be here".

Yes, the Crab seems to be much easier from darker locations. I'm mid B4, and had no trouble finding it first time.

Just clouded right over. I'll give it half an hour.

It's clear here, but the seeing is iffy. I've set up the Mak. So far, I've seen three doubles, Neptune and Saturn, and just come in for tea. About to continue.

I could restrict myself to a single scope, so long as I could have 500 eyepieces to go with it.

Nice report, thanks for posting. I've added a couple of those doubles to my next list. For anyone using SkySafari, note that it doesn't list STF 2570 under that designation, but it can be found as SAO 105207.

If you down a few of those Piraats, you may struggle to sketch anything.

If you're on a budget, a zoom makes sense, and if you're on a budget, a Svbony zoom makes even better sense. This recent thread has some discussion: