All excellent info, thankyou very much. I just had a really good veiwing session tonight with a mate whom seem interested enough to start viewing himself. I'll be sure to atend the star party you mention about the members atending. Would be good to see first hand all the gear on offer.
Back to eye pieces ...I was really impressed with my 12.5 ED2 EP...with my GSO 2XED Barlow I was able to see what apeared to be a companion of Rigel? I may be wrong as a newbie BUT ... I still went WOW as I picked out a small pin point of light nicely tucked along side Rigel as it was blaring away and seemingly masive by comparison.
SATURN was also amazing with this EP combo... Eat I've seen it anyways. I could pick out what I thought to be two moons & the very thin ring system was extreemly precise! The razor sharp edge seem to make the planet look much larger than normal. I thought I was looking at Jupiter for a moment and imagined I could see very thin wispy lines on the yellow sphere. Whatever I was seeing, I was very impressed & also picked out a few other sites I could not Identify, but enjoyed some nebulosity around various star formations.
Given some of the info here & tonight success with a 12.5, I think I will confidently shell out a few hundred for around that sized FL eye piece.
I think M42 could be framed slightly larger in a plossel larger than 19/20mm. Does a premium EP of the same focal length give a wider field of view? This is were I get a little muddled up; hence the need to see myself
Night all...
Dave.....ZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz