Barlow Trick

[orion25]

I only recently discovered this trick to get 3X magnification from a 2X barlow. Some of you fellow loungers may already know about this, but I wanted to share it for those who may not . By simply placing the barlow IN FRONT of the diagonal (for those of you who use diagonals on your scopes) you can get nearly 3X magnification. I tried with it my Maks and it actually works. I found out about it in this article:

http://www.danlessmann.com/articles/telescope%20optics%20101-part2.pdf

There's some great introductory material in the article as well about how telescopes and eyepieces work for newbies.

Cheers,

Reggie

[RichieP]

By the same principle you can also reduce the power of the Barlow by unscrewing the lens from its tube and screwing it directly into the bottom of the eyepiece.

In fact this is how zoom eyepieces work. They have a barlow element which moves further away from the eyepiece as you increase the magnification.

Richard

[Alfian]

By the same principle you can also reduce the power of the Barlow by unscrewing the lens from its tube and screwing it directly into the bottom of the eyepiece.

In fact this is how zoom eyepieces work. They have a barlow element which moves further away from the eyepiece as you increase the magnification.

Richard

Not all barlows have that facility and sometimes the thread size differs but its worth playing around to see if it will work.

[cutepetgroomer]

I have a 3x barlow, I am actually saving up for a good quality 2x barlow. Well, last night my playing with the barlow on jupiter didn't end well.. I was able to see it.. but never focus it in (had in before eyepiece after diagonal) I am forgetting where to position my barlow but tonight if sky is willing, I will play around with it more.. 

[DougM43]

What a good read, I've learnt something there, Obvious really but I put my 32mm eyepiece into a 2x Barlow shortie tonight and it gave me 125 x on Jupiter, plenty enough for me to see some detail and very comfortable to look through. It's not been out of the box since I bought it and I think it's now my favourite eyepiece combination. With the clouds rolling in I didn't have time to put it in front of the diagonal, but I'll definitely try that next time.

Thanks.

[sbooder]

If you take your Barlow out and look at your TV trough it showing ITV at 7:30 most evenings you can turn into a Ken x Barlow!...I'll get me coat!

[Alfian]

If you take your Barlow out and look at your TV trough it showing ITV at 7:30 most evenings you can turn into a Ken x Barlow!...I'll get me coat!

Would screwing a focal reducer into the Barlow counteract is undesirable aberration?