Just a heads up for complete newbies

Dont rush to observe things with the smaller size eyepieces such as 5mm,10mm etc. You will get to see it bigger but it wont look as good as say when you observe with a 20mm,32mm eyepiece.

Orions Nebula for example.......looks a lot better with a 20mm eyepiece then it does with a 10mm eyepiece because you can see empty space around it. It has a more majestic look to it.

So give the higher numbered eyepieces a go first.

thanks pj30something - something that i read in the manual that came with my scope but good and helpful information nonetheless.

I havent had a chance to see the Orion Nebula yet believe it or not. I was planning to go out later tonight (the telescope is outside as we speak) but it seems to be getting a bit cloudy out there. It was very clear not an hour ago.

Perfect observing weather here. Not a single cloud in the sky. I was observing Orion neb earlier and i decided that yes indeed i do prefer it in the 20mm EP rather then the 10mm.

Other may disagree but i just wanted to share it with people.

Great weather here too, just a rain cloud passing over at the moment so had to come in, but it's probably gone now already.
I've been out with my new eyepieces for the first night, but haven't got to make use of the higher powered ones yet, waiting for Saturn to appear. M42 is indeed best at lower powers as are most deep sky objects, seeing as higher magnification leads to a loss in brightness.

M42 is indeed best at lower powers as are most deep sky objects, seeing as higher magnification leads to a loss in brightness.

I discovered that tonight. It puzzled me why all the lads who do astrophotog choose to use lower magnification for DSO's. But now i know. As well as being brighter i'm guessing it allows them greater zoom with their cams......giving them a bigger brighter sharper image.

Kinda logical when you think about it. It just took me til tonight to come to the conclusion.

Well paul,

ye i found that too i was using a 5.7 for everything kinda as i learned this is not the way for best viewing..so we use larger ones like 25,20,17mms for a wider field view....was out myself lastnight with DAS we had our meeting got some good info and viewing