albert91tgn

Thanks Ricochet for the comprehensive answer. I've ordered the 5mm BST and a big piece of foam that by my calculations should allow me to do a light shroud that sticks on the inside and hides neatly inside the scope when folded.

Hello everyone! I've always been fascinated by the sky as I grew up in a very small village in Spain with wonderful views (I could often see the milky way from my bedroom). I moved to London at 18, and last year after moaning to my girlfriend about how much I missed the stars she organised to hire a Skywatcher 200P from Seb Jay (darkskytelescopehire.co.uk) and we spent a few days on the best dark sky site I could find at car distance (Wiveton Downs in Norfolk) . It was cloudly/rainy most nights and was ready to give up, but the last night had broken clouds and I was blown away. Despite only having the stock eyepieces, no previous experience, suboptimal weather and no planets visible, for the first time I saw some DSOs (Andromeda, Orion and even the ring nebula!) and I instantly knew I had to buy a telescope. Now, I've been putting this off since then last for several reasons. We live in a shared flat and don't have much storage space, we live in zone 2 in London (Acton, if you're near please contact me!) and the light pollution is insane and the only telescope I can realistically own, store and travel with that I liked was the heritage 130p which seemed like too much a downgrade from the 200P I had already tried. It was only this month with the release of the Heritage 150P and the significant savings I've built over lockdown that I've bitten the bullet and purchased it. So far I haven't been able to try it at night as it's been cloudy for the last few days, but just by testing it on my street I hated the 10mm so I purchased a BST 8mm. I know the general advice for a beginner is to just replace the 10mm and then use the scope for a bit until you decide what's next, but I want to invest a bit more (given I have to travel to use it I won't be able to use it everyday hence I want to make the most of these trips) and I see a few options (listing them in the order of importance I perceive them): A light pollution filter (looking at SVBONY UHC or CLS) given that I'll mostly be using my telescope in the outskirts of London A DIY light shroud (again, light pollution. My garden is surrounded by street lamps) A BST 5mm for planets (seeing Saturn an Jupiter is my girlfriend's top priority and I'm not sure the 8mm will do) A BST 12/15mm to fill the in-between of my BST 8mm and the stock 25mm A 1.5x barlow lens to get a 6mm and a 17mm out of my existing eyepieces Are these the right purchases? If so, in what order of priority would you get them?