[Cris]

Hey guys,

I just signed up tonight after purchasing my new telescope and I've got a few questions about accessories. Here's the specs first off:

Aperture: 254mm
Focal length: 1250mm (f/5)
Eye pieces: 9mm, 15mm, 30mm plossl

Tonight I did some viewing from my backyard (suburban) and I believe I was viewing mars at about 7pm (to the right of the moon). It was orange/red and when viewed through 9mm plossl it was quite a small blurry point (slightly larger than a pin head). At the moment I can get a 139x magnification, would a 6mm or 4mm plossl help see detail on mars due to a larger magnification? What are good eye pieces/filters for viewing planets?

Also, are DSO's going to be hard to see? I mean mars was such a small point how could I resolve a galaxy, nebula or globular cluster like what is promised about this telescope?

BTW I didn't let the telescope cool down enough (realised this after reading some other posts) so this may be why mars was blurry.