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Old 24-03-2009, 10:17 AM
Coen
"Doc"

Coen is offline
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Adelaide, Australia
Posts: 180
I too have a 70x900 skywatcher refractor. Apart from the two basic eyepieces and barlow that came with the scope I have:
A better quality 25mm plossl it higher contrast than the 25mm that comes with the scope but narrower field-of-view so the clusters do not fit entirely in the eyepiece compared to the basic eyepiece. I also think it does better showing the colour of some of the redder stars than the basic eyepiece. Having said that I do not use either 25mm often.
A 15mm GSO SuperView, this has almost the same field of view as the 25mm plossl but at 60x. It suffers some degradation of the star shape (i.e. no longer pin-points) towards the edge of the view but for the refractor it is a good match and is the default eyepiece living in the scope.
A 6mm GSO plossl for that once in a while good seeing moment. As noted this eyepiece does need the eye close and not all of the field of view is visible at once i.e. need pan the eye around a little. I have it for splitting that double star that is tough and for the occasional look at the planets especially when attempting Io's shadow transit on Jupiter.

Regarding other things, if you have not already:
- I'd get yourself some good star maps, there are a number around that are free as well as ones you can purchase.
- A pair of binoculars, star maps and the 'scope. Start with something you know in the sky and on the map, pan around with the binoculars, see something interesting zoom in with the 'scope and find on the map. Great way to learn your way around and prepares you for the moment you want to find that object you've read/heard about.

I note in another thread you discuss viewing Jupiter, once you are comfortable with the planet, viewing a transit of a shadow can be fun. There is software out there that predicts the times and so use that to plan an observation. Ganymede is the easiest for the 'scope. Io is tough in the 70mm. Some colour filters also help bring features out on the cloud deck. Light blue and light yellow work for me, light green is supposed to be good too. You can attempt to see the "dent" in the cloud deck where the red-spot is. You will not see the red-spot itself due to its low contrast.

As you spend more time at the eyepiece you will begin to see more things too.

BTW over in the Observation Reports section you'll see some write-ups of what I have been up to with a 70mm, that might be helpful (although I am looking at some obscure things at times).

An object selection that I am sure you will enjoy:
M42 - the Orion nebula (middle "star" in the sword), taking careful note of the structure of the gas cloud and the trapezium star in the middle.
Omega Cent - a big globular cluster that looks like a grainy ball of fluff that you can look at for a long time seeing the salt & pepper of stars.
NGC 5128 - the hamburger galaxy, bit tougher but looking at it for a while and you will see parts of the dust lane bisecting the cotton ball looking thing.
Eta Carina - cluster plus gas cloud with a really large star (eta Carina itself) glowing orange.
Around the Carina region there are wonderful star clusters to view including NGC3252.
Kappa Crucis - Jewel box cluster (near the arm of the southern cross)
Acrux - the foot of the cross, the star is a close double (for the 70mm) of two nearly equal stars.

Good to see you are enjoying yourself!
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