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Hi Taf
Re the finderscope. You may find it easiest to align it during the daytime by using a terrestrial object. They have the benefit of not moving relative to your scope, unlike stars. They have the disadvantage of not being as far away as the Moon/planets/stars!
But if you can see a distant TV antenna, mountain top etc from your viewing location, align your finderscope using this. Using a lower power eyepiece, get an object centred in the field of view. (yes, I know it's upside down - you get used to it!). Then adjust the two screws on the finderscope until the same object is under the crosshairs. You could try to go to a higher power eyepiece and repeat the exercise, if you want to align the finderscope more accurately. However, you would usually use the lowest power eyepiece when locating an object. The order being - find the object in the finderscope (yes, it's upside down and back to front! Did I say you'd get used to it!!), then use the lowest power eyepeice in the scope to centre the object. Then change eyepieces to increase the magnification as required.
Worth noting is that many beginners try to use a magnification that is too high. Many objects are best viewed with a lower power eyepiece and wide field of view.
WARNING - if the sun is still up, don't point the scope in its direction. Sunlight concentrated by the finderscope or telescope mirror will damage your eye.
Edit - just thought of something else - is your finderscope focussed for your eye? Are the stars fairly sharp pinpoints of light when looking through it (you can take it off the scope and just point it at the sky to check. It should come factory-focussed, but if you use glasses etc. it might be a bit out of focus for your eye. The focus is adjustable - I think the manual will describe how - otherwise ask here.
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