[Suzy]

Originally Posted by Poita

I'd be going for bigger steps between mags, say your existing 25mm, plus a 14 or 11mm and then a 7mm or 6mm for the planets on those great nights of seeing.

Agreed & good advice!
As also everything else Peter said in his posts here so far.
If you get a 2 x barlow, and keep those focal lengths in bigger steps, they will all barlow down nicely: 25mm to 12.5mm, 14mm down to 7mm (I use 7mm and the 10mm a lot for planets on my 10" dob), and then your 10mm down to 5mm (when the conditions are good). You won't go wrong.

The 12mm you were after initially, I think is too close to the 15mm. You really want something around 9mm-10mm to bring out those planets in my opinion. And! blow your mind when you throw a 10mm (WideView!!) on globular clusters ... wow!

My start up kit suggestion for you...
Eyepieces: 9/10mm, 14/15, 22/25mm
2 x Barlow
Filters: UHC for nebulas - good all rounder filter and will do most nebulas.
Blue filter for planets.
Bintel cleaner- a special solution they make up to clean your eyepieces
streak free. Buy it from Bintel.
Red light torch- a necessity to preserve your eyes dark adaptation.
A comfy chair
Rob's maps (as mentioned in previous post) or any other maps for that matter really (but his are good!)
Download Stellarium software (it's free)

And.. binoculars if you've already got them will come in very handy to help find things.



Re Filters....

Have a look here what the difference a blue and red filter does to Mars. See how the blue filter brings out the ice caps? Mars is in our sky at the moment.

Have a look at this link here for more info- I have posted some of it's contents below. If you read on, you will notice the blue filter is used the most.
My 2cents worth.. for now just get the blue and put the rest of the money that you would otherwise use on the rest of the filters into some good quality eyepieces that will show you good colours and contrast anyway.

EFFECTS OF FILTERS ON THE MOON AND PLANETS
In general, "astronomical seeing" is improved by using filters. Red filters improve seeing the greatest and is followed by orange, then yellow, and so on. Each color filter will pass their characteristic color of light and block their complimentary colors. Red objects will appear very dark in a blue or green filter and bright in a red filter. Green features will be bright in green light, dark in blue or red light. Blue is bright in blue light and dark in red or green and yellow. Many A.L.P.O. members recommend Eastman Kodak Wratten Color Filter for observing the planets. Listed below are the filter reactions on the planets:



Mercury: Usually observed from twilight to nearly full daylight. Filters help reduce light scattering, improves seeing and contrast of surface features. This planet usually appears very bright pinkish with light gray markings. Very difficult to observe. Usered (W25, W29), orange (W21, W23A), yellow (W15) and green (W57).

Venus: Devoid of markings this planet requires color filters to increase image contrast. A deep blue filter (W46, W47) is useful to reveal the very low contrast shadings in its atmosphere. Since Venus is extremely bright a filter is necessary to cut down on its intensity and reduce irradiation in the observers eye. Venus is often observed in the daytime a red filter is used to darken the blue background sky and increase contrast as well.



The Moon: A green filter (W57) used in conjunction with a neutral density filter is a great way to increase lunar surface features and reduce its excessive glare. Special Moon filters are also available and are usually very dense and green in color.



Mars: Observed both at night and in twilight hours. Difficult to observe due to bright surface. Mars is similar to Earth because the surface and its atmosphere can been seen.
Yellow (W12, W15) to brighten desert regions, darkens bluish and brownish features.
Orange (W21, W23A) further increases contrast between light and dark features, penetrates hazes and most clouds, and limited detection of dust clouds.
Red (W25, W29) gives maximum contrast of surface features, enhances fine surface details, dust clouds boundaries, and polar cap boundaries.
Green (W57) darkens red and blue features, enhances frost patches, surface fogs, and polar projections.
Blue-Green (W64) helps detect ice-fogs and polar hazes.
Blue (W80A, W38, W38A) and deep blue (W46, W47) shows atmospheric clouds, discrete white clouds, and limb hazes, equatorial cloud bands, polar cloud hoods, and darkens reddish features.
Magenta (W30, W32) will enhance red and blue features and darkens green ones. Improves polar region features and some Martian clouds.



Jupiter: This bright gaseous planet is a very interesting object to study in different colors of light. Using a light blue filter (W38A), W80A) enhances the contrast within the bright zones on this planet and sharpens boundaries of faint cloud currents. Since Jupiter's belts are brown both the green (W57) and blue (W47) filters will darken them. A yellow (W12, W15) filter will darken the blue festoons that appear near the North Equatorial Belts south edge and equatorial zone. A magenta (W30) filter is great to brighten and enhance those white ovals seen in the South Temperate Belts and Zone.



Saturn:A most interesting planet to observe. It has bright and dark cloud bands similar to Jupiter, but, are less distinct than the larger planet. The brighter zones appear off-white and slate-gray or yellowish at times. On the other hand, Saturn's belts exhibit bluish-gray, brown and reddish colors easily seen using the same filters as for Jupiter. Brighter patches sometimes appear on this ringed planet and are best seen on green or blue-green light. The rings are highlighted using a light green (W57) filter and at times a magenta filter (W30).

Uranus and Neptune: Yellow-green (W12), green (W57), and magenta (W30) filters are recommended on these bluish and greenish planets. Because both planets are much dimmer than the others in the telescope it suggests the Purkinje, Bezold-Brucke, Tritanomalous vision effects may be at work here. Observing these planets is difficult and their blue-greenish color begins to change to a bright blue using moderate to large aperture telescope (12- to 24-inches).