[CC Bear (Tim)]

Hello all, I've just purchased my first ever telescope as a 41 year old! its a second hand 8 inch Dob from GSO and came with the following eyepieces: 2 inch 30mm GSO Superview and the rest are all 1.25" standard Plossls: 25mm, 12mm, 9mm and a 6.5mm Series 500. I also got a Meade LPI with Autostar suite (will worry about imaging down the track!!!).

I've had a couple of views and no probs with the moon with my eyepieces or Saturn (best in 9mm I found as 6.5mm hurt the eyes and was too hard to find)!

I'll be wanting to view nebulas and also find an easier way to see the planets at a high mag (say 5 or 6mm) to give me a max of abt 240x...I live in Sydney's suburbs and that's about all I can expect I'm told with my Dob.

Unfortunately my astro budget for the year only allows me another $120 or so.

My thoughts are to get a 1.25" GSO UHC filter, a 1.25" Superview GSO 15mm (for nebulas with the filter) and use the SV 15mm with either a 2,2.5 or 3 x Barlow for planetary purposes as it should be easier on the eye.

Would the above be good bang for my buck given my budget? If so, which Barlow given the 2x is cheapest, the 3 is ED and the 2.5 is apochromatic!

Appreciate any help!!!