Eyepieces, Barlows, New Telescope and Confusion

I'm a newbie at all this so excuse my questions if they sound really dumb. But I could use some advice from all of you that have so much more knowledge and experience.

I just got an Orion 120mm Skyview Pro EQ refractor for backyard viewing, including 10mm and 25mm eyepieces. My viewing area does have some street light interference, but taller trees shade most of it. I'm not sure exactly what I should be seeing with this scope and what exactly to expect from it and the eyepieces, plus what I should be purchasing as optional equipment that would enhance my viewing.

The moon has looked great with this scope and EPs. Mars (as of about midnight on Aug. 14 in Pennsylvania) seems to be a dot in the eyepiece, about the size of a pinhead (like the kind of pins with the colored plastic heads). Some of the brighter stars in the sky look more in focus, but are still just bright lights in the EP and really don't look much bigger than viewing without a scope. I haven't found any other planets or tried deep space viewing yet since it's been pretty overcast since I've got the scope.

As a lay person, what other eyepieces/barlows etc. should I get to compliment my viewing of the planets/moon/deep space objects?

My scope takes 1.25" and 2" EPs. What is the advantage to using 2" EPs over 1.25" EPs? Should I use 2" instead? (I wear glasses, but find viewing without them more comfortable).

Using the star diagonal "reverses" the image in centering in the eyepiece. Any way to correct this situation and have viewing of objects the same as my eye sees them, rather than reversed?

I see many photographs of great deep space objects but can't see these things with my eyes or telescope. Is that normal? Do these things become "visible" and "detailed" only when doing long exposures on film/photography? Or is there an eyepiece that would bring these objects into focus and visible through my scope?

I have the basic set of 4 colored filters. I really haven't noticed much benefit of using them, only to notice that the object being viewed gets "darker" and picks up the color of the filter (red, blue, green, yellow). When are these filters best used and on what?

Thanks for your help!

Quick reply, I'm sure others will chime in.

1st, get a good barlow and at least a 7.5mm EP.

I highly recommend the celestron Ultima barlow and eyepieces.

Do this so you can get jack up the power on Mars.

Right now you're only pushing 100x with your 10mm ep.

Add a good barlow and a 7.5mm ep and you can get to 266x. this will come in handy later when the gas giants show up.

Later on think about getting a better quality diagonal and a good low power ep.

Sorry this was quick and short.

Cheers,
Steve

Bruce,
The pictures in all the magazines look really nice don't they? Unfortunately, most, not all, of those are taken with mid-high end scopes with lots of astrophotography gadgets connected to them. Is that to say you cannot get some fantastic views from your setup? NOT AT ALL!! With some practice and some help from local clubs you can get that setup of yours humming. A 120 Achro is a fine scope for viewing lunar, planets and brighter Deep Sky Objects(DSOs).
As for your questions; EPs:
1) Either the Celestrons or Meade Plossls are fine. Get a feel for what you like at a local store or Asro-club.
2) 2" accessories are good because you have a larger "sweet spot" with regards to the focal area on the diagonal.
3) You can purchase prisms that reoriented the image being viewed; my opinion is what does it matter? Use the money on a Barlow or other EPs
4) Yes, objects are much better after long exposures
5) Filters are very specialized. The most widely used seems to be the oIII filter and the up and coming Baader Contrast Filter.
Stay focused and Patient.
-John

The advantage to 2" eyepieces is that they allow you to see a larger portion of the sky at once. The downside is that quality 2" eyepieces are expensive.

Deep sky objects, unfortunately, do not look like the photos you see. Imaging can build up light in a way the eye can not.

Stars are too far away to appear as disks in any telescope. In theory, they will actually look smaller in a larger telescope. This is because the image of a star in a telescope is actually a tiny diffraction disk, and larger telescopes produce smaller diffraction disks. Our atmosphere often makes stars, especially bright ones, look a bit more bloated than the telescope alone would make them appear.

You should be able to see some detail on Mars with 100x provided by the 10mm eyepiece. Mars reveals it southern polar cap and some dark albedo features through my little 65mm scope at 60x. Last night, under rather poor seeing, quite a bit of detail was visible in a 10" Newt at a mere 123x. Try observing Mars as often as possible, and you may find you gradually start seeing some detail. Personally, I'd recommend something around 150 power for you next eyepiece or eyepiece/barlow combination. You might get away with a bit more power, but, in my experience, only the very top of the line optics provide improved views at magnifications approaching twice the aperture in millimeters.

I would second the advice to get a barlow and eyepeice combination that would give you around 250X but no more as this approaches the theoretical maximum magnification for your aperature, (an 8mm plossl and 2X barlow will do the trick) I recommend the Celestron Ultima 2X barlow. If you already have a 10mm, then barlowing it will give you 200X but on some real steady nights you might want just a bit more magnification. You can also gain a bit more magnification by sliding the 10mm a little way out of the barlow and then engaing the set screw. It will be great on Mars, the Moon and Jupiter, Saturn when they appear later in the fall. For a good planetary eyepiece you need not spend much money, the Celestron adn Meade Plossls put out fine planetary images. Also, if your scope accepts a 2" diagonal, William Optics has a good one for 99 bucks. A quality diagonal is an important part of the optical train, it accepts 2" eyepieces but will also accept 1 1/4" eyepeices with the supplied adapter. you might also want a good 2" widefield eyepiece, something in the 24mm to 20mm range (41X and 50X in your scope) The televue Naglers are really great, but very expensive. Meade has some nice 2" wide angle eyepieces for a much more reasonable price and they perform very well.

As far as viewing deep sky objects, I hate to disappoint you but they will not look like the photos. At first they will appear to you only as dim smudges but after your eye gets trained by observing these objects, I dont mean just taking a casual glance, but really observing, you will begin to see detail in them. Getting to a dark sky site is a must to get the best deep sky performance from your scope as city light pollution is a real killer of these objects. However, you will get very fine views of the moon and planets, double stars from light polluted skies as they are bright enough that no detail is lost (in the case of planets some folks say it is enhanced) by light pollution.

About the star diagonal reversing the image, most of us just get used to it but you can buy and "erect image prism" that will give you properly oriented views but you will sacrifice image quality as it is not near the quality of a good mirror diagonal.

The color filters will enhance contrast on the planets. For Mars I use an orange filter to bring out the surface detail, and switch to a light blue to bring out the clouds and polar caps.

You have a fine refractor and should get much satifation from it. You will also get plenty of advice from this forum. for reading up on equipment and general observing I recommend going to cloudynights.com and read away. Hope this helps you, and welcome to this great hobby. Also if you have an astronomy club in your area join up, you will get a real education observing with other folks.