8 inch SCT vs 12 inch SCT for galaxies

I live on a dead end street in rural CT with no street lights around, so nights get pretty dark here.

I currently have an 8 inch LX90 with UHTC.

My passion, if you will, is for galaxies but I find that the 8 inch appears to be just too small to see anything but faint details in any of the galaxies.

Would a 12 inch LX90 with UHTC make much difference in seeing galaxy details vs the 8 inch? How much if any details on a reasonably dark night would I be able to see, for example, on M31, M51, M65, M66 and/or M81?

Thanks......Mike

BIG difference, specially if you have Dark Skies... believe me... 8)

Much more resolution, brighter image, details in structure with the 12".

Ditto Ivan and Floyd, but I chose to go from my 8" LX-90 to a 12.5" Dob.
I still have the 8" (it was my first scope), but the Dobs get most of the use now.
I think the quality of the optics is at least as important as the aperture.
And I'm a big fan of aperture.
Linton

Hi Mike--
I observed with an 8" sct for a long time, and occasionally borrowed my community college's lx200 12". There is a huge difference. You'll see the dust lanes in m31, the spiral arms of m51, with luck and persistence, the spiral arms of m81; one of the nicest views of ngc 4565 came in that 12" with a 24 panoptic: great contrast, bright, central bulge and dust lane very clearly delineated.

BUT, if visual observation of galaxies is really your thing, you should get a 15" or bigger dob, IMHO. You could pick up a discovery 17.5 truss here for about the same money, and have 3/4 the focal length with double the light of the 12" meade.

George

I stepped up from 8 to as.5 inches of aperture a few years ago, and can confirm that this makes a significant difference on galaxy observation.

Under excellent skies, I could make out the spiral structure in M51, M33 and M101 with the 8-inch, but it required patience, and perhaps some imagination. With the 12.5-inch I actually see these features with direct vision under dark and transparent skies. With the 12.5-inch I also see the spiral arms of M99, M61 and NGC2907. I could never see the equatorial dust lane of NGC891 in Andromeda with the 8-inch, but it is rather obvious with the 12.5-inch. I also see the dust lane of the large elongated galaxy in the same field as M65/66 (I'm on vacation and don't have my maps at hand and don't remember its NGC-number).
Just remember to use sufficient magnification when observing galaxies. I use 115x for M33 and M101, and 167x for M51 and the smaller ones to make out most detail.

Inge S