Hi again - sorry for such a delay in my response, I've been visiting my partners family and had no opportunity to post without him seeing!
jjjnettie - Much appreciated! (I did check the links out not long after you'd posted) the problem being I have no way of collecting telescopes that are self collection only. Unfortunately not many people selling 2nd hand scopes add a shipping option (I don't blame them!).
barx1963 - Amazing information, thank you very much! Really helped me understand a lot of things that were going over my head (though I must admit it'll take some time to properly sink in!). Quick question - about the eye pieces, you say to find the magnification you divide the scopes focal length by the eyepieces focal length: is this relative to the "highest useful magnification" I keep seeing on scope product details? So in other words you can do the math to see whether or the scope is capable of making good use out of whatever new eye piece you're looking at buying? I hope that made sense!
Rob - It's great to hear what you're saying as I know any view that is better than the naked eye is going to be amazing for us, and although I'm trying to educate myself more before buying a scope I certainly don't have high expectations nor crave top of the line gear just yet!
Having said that, I've decided to push the boat out a bit more (maybe it is starting already!) and have narrowed it down to two options but I'm struggling to know which is the better quality scope in terms of what I'll be able to see.
Skywatcher Heritage 130p
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Skywatcher-H...1590875&sr=8-1
vs
Celestron Astromaster 130EQ
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Celestron-31.../ref=de_a_smtd
The obvious difference being the mount, but otherwise what's your opinion on how these match up in terms of specs? I get the feeling they're the same but am a bit too uncertain of my knowledge just yet!
Many thanks,
Hannah