rightguard

I have just ordered my first scope and would like some eyepiece advice. It's an 8" DOB with a focal length of 1200mm , ratio f/5.9

and one eyepiece: Sirius Plossl 25mm (1.25"). I know I need a few more eyepieces and I've read Warthog's great post. I want to buy some pretty decent eps ($100-$200 each) so i can only buy one at a time. Which size and ep should I buy first ?

if its your first scope then i really really wouldnt go spending 100-200 dollars on an eyepiece.

tmb clones can be picked up cheap enough and give quite a good quality visual.

a 10mm will give you 120x, a 5mx will give you 240x, which is probly a little too high for most nights, so look for a 6mm?

id go for a 15mm, a 10mm and a 6mm. just my 2 cents.

Did the 8" show you features of Saturn that you simply could not see with a 6" or was it that the 8" showed the features slightly better ?.

I can see that the 8" would make seeing one of the fainter moons like Enceledus easier but I'm interested what the differences were on features like the Cassini Division, the Crepe Ring, ring segment brightness variations and cloud band / features on Saturn itself.

Just trying to quantify the differences I guess

well for a start i could acutally see the cassini division which i couldnt with the 150, but perhaps seeing had something to do with this, who knows.

secondly, the image was noticably larger and more detail was there.

However, i don't know too much about the planets or anything to do with space, i just enjoy the view.

as such, I have no idea what the other features on saturn you mentioned are!

If you put a 8" newt and a 6" newt side by side the difference is not overwhelming you have to look hard to see the difference.

i found a big difference with saturn

Since a Dobsonian is a Newtonian asking 6" or 8" is somewhat redundant. Especially as the poll misses out SCT/Mak.

So we have a poll with 2 scopes of the same type, 6" Newtonian or 8" Newtonian, and does not including a type that many astronomers own and use.

i disagree.

difference from 150 to 200 is actually quite alot.

secondly, arent sct's and maks generally more expensive?

A dob effectivley is a newtonian isn't it ? So a 8" will be better than a 6" !

yep both are reflectors, they only differ in the mount

the dobsonian.

but get the skyliner (solid tube) then you can mount it on an EQ later if/when you get into imaging

This.

Also remember that in astronomy, no matter what those 'frac guys tell you.. aperture is king

An 8 inch dob will blow away a 5 or 6 inch newt or 'frac, EVERYTIME.

mines just a tescos carrier bag, not even with end caps on

only one that cost me any money is a tmb II 5mm but tbh thats doing just fine chucked in there