re: Used my new telescope for the first time tonight. Need some recs.

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I need a good eyepiece with as much magnification as practicable. 200x plus.

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Keep in mind you'll be limited optically by the aperature of your scope. You can get 200x, but if its a giant blob of light its useless.

Barlow lens could supplement your eyepieces without breaking the bank

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You'll be surprised to see just how many more stars you can see when you get far away from city lights. Even Tuscaloosa will dull the nightime sky with its lights. I can only imagine that a city like New Orleans or even Baton Rouge you can't see much more than the moon and a handful of stars

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Yup. Check this light pollution map out. Astronomy as a hobby is fricking hard to do on the gulf coast. I'd be much happier under the stars out west.

Dark Sky Finder

Orion doesnt rise until after midnight in October. The best time to see Orion is in January

OP my advice is to go out into the country every now and then to where you can see more stars.

At this time of the year the best object you can see is the Andromeda Galaxy, reaching zenith pretty soon. Just find Casseopia, the narrower "angle" of the W points directly toward the Andromeda Galaxy.

You can also resolve double stars, such as in the constellation Cygnus which is easy to find, its a cross shape. The tail end star of Cygnus is a double star, one is colored blue and the other yellow.

With increased magnification you need increased stability.

If you’re magnifying the image 200 times you will also magnify vibrations 200 times.

The two eyepieces that came with my scope (25 mm and 9 mm) give me 26x and 72x magnification. I also bought a 2.3 mm eyepiece that gives me 283x magnification. I bought a Celestron 2x Barlow and a Televue 3x Barlow that I couple with my eyepieces. Or I can use both Barlows to give me 6x what my eyepiece magnification is. I find a smaller magnification eyepiece coupled with a Barlow gives me a better view than the equivalent higher manification eyepiece. When going super high magnification (like over 500x), the moon is the only thing it is useful for. Orion Nebula is probably my favorite "easy" thing to look at. Of course, Saturn never gets old.





These moon shots were taken by holding my iPhone up to my eyepiece.

ETA: To help eliminate vibrations at high mag, I put some bricks or weights on the shelf of my scope tripod to weigh it down and add stability. Also place it on grass, not cement.

Welcome to a great hobby - I've owned many telescopes over the years, including a 5" reflector much like your 130ST. Here is an astrophoto I made of Comet Holmes several years ago using a 5" reflector.



Also an astrophoto I made of Jupiter, its Galilean moons and ... wait for it ... the planet Uranus, taken through a 110 mm refractor.



I recommend you find an astronomy club in your area and participate in their star-gazes and other programs.