Reddit mentions of Konus Digital Adapter for Spotting Scope

Hello :-)

They do sell cameras within your budget (e.g. this one), but of course you get what you pay for, but for a few planet snapshots it's usable. But then, so would be a smartphone with an adapter ([1]() 2 3) or compact camera adapter (1) or DSLR adapter [e.g. Canon 1 2].

A simple moon filter will work, a adjustable polarization filter being the deluxe variant.

Do you know what eyepieces he has?

What the stock XT8 lacks is a 2" wide angle overview eyepiece (1, 2, 3, 4)


Also missing in the xt8 kit is a ~6mm eyepiece for a bit more magnification for planets. You can get a good budget eyepiece for under $40 or a great ultra wide angle one for $150.

The Orion XT8 comes with eyepieces that have ~52° apparent field of view (see this graphic).

You can also get a solar filter if he' into that.

Or a right-angle correct-image finder to replace that small red-dot finder (1 2 3)...

Any idea what he observes the most? What things he already has?