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Hi, the theoretical max magnification for my scope according to astronomytools.com is 375x - 150 x 2.5. I’ve surpassed that on a few occasions but only with very good seeing. I’ve just got a new zoom eyepiece which together with a Barlow will easily allow much higher magnification. When the skies up here in Oregon eventually clear I’ll be out observing the moon. Will I be able to achieve greater magnification while observing the moon? Does it make any difference that the moon is only a hop, skip and a jump away? Thanks

Fitted straight to Hyperion and couldn't get focus on Jupiter or Moon on either the 2" or 11/4". Had put some grease and loosened the focuser locking knob made it easier to adjust but still no joy. Took it back home and Hyperion had the 1.25" adapter fitted to which Barlow with its converter were attached. After removing the Hyperion 1.25" adapter, Barlow fits straight on with its converter. This makes it usable up to around 9mm (18mm/2). At higher magnification the focuser would need to extend more but it's at the limit. Need to think about 2" collar to let the Hyperion slot out further outside to increase the gap. Still, managed to get a view of Moon, Jupiter and Saturn at 9mm. Admittedly I can get 8mm without Zoom so this was more of a test. Oh, also NexYZ has arrived and it's actually very descend although it's tricky to operate Hyperion's zoom with it on.

Hi SGL, My lovely wife bought me a SW Explorer 130 with the basic RA drive for my 40th birthday 8 years ago, and I've enjoyed using it on and off ever since. I've started getting more into it - it's a great beginner scope, but I'm - like lots of others on this forum - looking at upgrading. One of the things I found tricky with the scope was getting the focus just right at high magnification (I'm sure that's kind of obvious!). It does wobble quite a bit on the EQ2 mount when focusing. I get pretty good - if small - views of Jupiter, Saturn, (the Moon, of course) and have had hints of seeing some DSOs. I bought a 8mm BST Starguider, and it's a great improvement on the standard 10mm that comes with the scope, but if I push the scope by adding the 2x Barlow and the 8mm it's a blur and the focus seems to keep missing the sweet spot. I saw a post elsewhere on this forum by MakTheNight, (looks like they've left now - last post was 2 years ago) who added a Baader Helical Focuser that attached directly to the T-thread on the focusing apparatus on the SW. Link to that post is below. I got one and it is indeed a great improvement on fine tuning - the problem is I can't use it with the Barlow as the helical focuser is about an inch long and the focuser can't move far enough into the scope to focus with the Barlow and any of my eyepieces (the 8mm BST, or the 10 or 25mm standard eyepieces) . Clearly MakTheNight managed to get their setup to work with some specific eyepieces (a Luminos 10mm and 32mm Plossl) and a specific Barlow, so I tried looking up how I could work out what combination of eyepieces and Barlow would work, rather than randomly buying kit and having to return it because it won't work with my scope, but I haven't found anything useful yet. So I thought I'd take the plunge and ask here Can anyone help me figure out how I can calculate what combinations of eyepiece and Barlow would work with this setup? I'm also looking at upgrading the OTA and mount to a 200P and EQ5 at some point, so ideally would have a combination that could work with that too - the focal length and mirror is quite different - 1000mm on the 200P parabolic vs 900mm spherical on the 130. Many thanks! Simon

Hi everyone, I was lucky enough to get a 12" Skywatcher Dobsonian (305mm/1500mm) for Christmas. It shipped with a 10mm Plossl and a 25mm Plossl, both 52° AFOV. Finally had a clear enough night to try it out and I absolutely loved it. I researched a bunch over the last year so I knew this was the scope I wanted should someone want to get me a really sweet gift before I grabbed it myself. What I didn't research at the time was accessories and equipment, something I've been doing relentlessly over the past few days. I'll primarily be viewing in the backyard until I find a great viewing spot (and a good way to safely transport). Light pollution isn't terrible but I haven't fully gauged its impact on seeing fainter objects. I'm not interested in imagery/photography at the moment. Not foreclosing on the idea by any means but everything I'm looking to add is purely for visual gratification at this point. Hoping the experts out there can lead me in the right direction. Here's what I'm trying to figure out: 1. What eyepieces should I pick up? I've read that, generally speaking, you want 2-3 premium pieces in over to cover low, medium, and high magnification. I'm currently looking at the following "sets": 5mm Nagler, 13mm Ethos, 35mm Panoptic or 6mm Ethos, 13mm Ethos, 21mm Ethos. I'm not overly concerned about price. I recognize that there's going to be a premium associated with a brand like TeleVue and with squeezing out that last drop of performance; however, I don't want to throw away money unnecessarily if I'm not going to see a benefit from pulling out the stops. I'm not beholden to TV by any stretch but everyone says they're the gold standard so I figured I'd look there first. I'm not looking to grab everything at once either. Was thinking of starting with the 13mm Ethos since it would fill the mid-range gap between my 10mm and 25mm. 2. Should I grab a Paracorr? I've read many comments that go back and forth on this but the consensus seems to be that, while it's not crucial at f/4.9 like it would be with a faster scope, it's something I should probably have in the arsenal if I'm using wide field eyepieces, which the ones I'm contemplating are. I couldn't detect any coma with the two eyepieces I currently have but I suspect I probably wouldn't given the FOV and my beginner status. I also think that once I see it I'm not going to be able to unsee it. 3. Should I pick up a Barlow? This question assumes I'm not getting a Paracorr. I like the idea of essentially doubling the number of eyepieces I have but I'm not too sure of the ultimate utility/necessity of it. 4. Any other crucial accessories I should have? I'm looking at a Cheshire collimator for when the time comes. Aside from that, is there anything else I should absolutely have? 5. Finally, any suggestions on transporting? It goes without saying but this baby is heavy. I don't have a garage, and I'm hesitant to store it in the shed, so what I've been doing is removing the OTA from the base and transporting them separately to the backyard for setup. It's not bad but I can see it getting old after awhile, especially with numerous viewing sessions in a row. After all, I didn't get this scope so it could collect dust; I want to use it as often as the weather lets me. I do plan on replacing the feet with wheels so I can at least roll it, but I'm trying to figure out a good solution to getting it in and out of the house (down 3 small steps) to the backyard without damaging it or breaking my back. I think that's all I have for now. I appreciate any help you all can provide. I'm just trying to learn as much as I can so I can have a great experience and eventually show my little guy all about the joys of astronomy. Thanks everyone!

I had another go at imaging the shrinking Mars, this time without and with a x2 Barlow lens. The results are better with the Barlow, which is what one is led to expect. For whatever reason (probably bad seeing and/or low planets) when I tried a Barlow previously it just made the blur bigger. Equipment: C8 SE, ASI120MC, x2 Skywatcher kit Barlow element screwed directly into 1.25" barrel of the ZWO camera. This does seem to give x2 in practice. I did not use an ADC on the grounds that I shouldn't need one with Mars at an altitude of over 40 degrees. 3000 image video captured with Sharpcap. Processed in Registax6. I found that the Sharpcap exposure histogram did not appear to work on such a small image, so had to estimate the exposure. Yes, optical ADC correction would be better, but the dispersion seemed very small. Blowing up the image x2 in Registax showed a small colour fringe, which I took out with a single point of correction. The images show some surface detail though the contrast is low (if you are using a flatscreen try viewing from below: ?) Mare Sirenum, with Mare Acidalium just discernible foreshortened at upper right.

Looking for a little advice. I have an Orion 2x shorty Barlow that came with my telescope. It seems to be much harder to focus when I use that with any of my eyepieces than my actual eyepieces are. I have a new Orion 6mm planetary eyepiece, which if terrific, actually, but when I pair it with my shorty 2x, I can't really get a clear focus on it, which is a little disappointing. I am thinking of buying a TeleVue 3x Barlow, which is much longer. It seems like with a longer eyepiece like that, it wouldn't require so many micro-adjustments to try to get a good, clean focus. (I could be wrong about that also, I know.) I Since they are quite a bit more expensive than the one I have, I want to make sure that it would be a good choice at this point. I am a beginner and am working with a 114 Reflector. Any thoughts or suggestions much appreciated.

Hello Can I ask what is the current wisdom to connect a Dslr to a Newtonian. I have a skywatcher 150pds. Is the right way to try and achieve prime focus? Or is it advisable to use a Barlow? And if this is the case does it need to be a good one if it's for imaging? Obviously this will be used in conjunction with a coma corrector Baader. I have no idea what gives the best results in Astrophotography and as I haven't bought them yet I would like to hear your ideas. I notice for example there is a standard celestron Barlow but also ED types and others. My camera is a Canon 550d. Thanks.

Are these same as the Baader, or different lenses in a Baader body?

Hi everyone, I am just starting to use my canon 1200D with my telescope using a t-ring and ofcourse want more magnification but i want a set of barlow lenses not just say 2x or 3x, so i hit ebay looking for cheap but sort of ok quality ones, I came across datyson ones for under £10 which on at least one site have good reviews but obviously i am not going to take the word of a site i dont know that sell thems word for it so I figured i would ask here, if anyone has tried these and can give a honest assessment of them it is the members on this site

have not imaged in awhile due to terrible sky conditions. Sahara desert sand and wildfire smoke has turned my local atmosphere into a rippling mess. (yes the sahara desert made it all the way to the central usa!) I wanted to try out some extended barlow distances today; so i did. Test was done using a celestron luminos 2.5x with a basler 1920-155um camera. I added extensions before the camera in 50mm increments to adjust magnification factor; I did not spend much effort processing the image's; i will attempt to use 6x , 7x and 8x tomorrow.

Mainly for my TV Genesis, I am looking for a 2 inch, 2x Barlow for use with LVW 42mm & NLVW 30mm eyepieces. To have good quality 21mm & 15mm equivalent eps with 2 inch fitting. Prefer to be able to insert the Barlow fully into my diagonal's ep end. 2x isn't exact magnification, as optical quality is more important. Any increase in eye relief is OK so a TV Powermate's speciality in not increasing the er is not essential. I decided to try a decent Barlow with my rich field scope first, to see if I want to really upsize aperture & focal length in a refractor.

Found an old (apparently USA model) celestron C8 SCT a while back, its a bit hit n miss with collimation and the optics - (some very strange star test shapes :P) but when it works it works well Here is a couple images from a couple months back. Thanks for looking. This particular night seeing was reasonably good, and collimation wasn't too bad either. Celestron C8 / ASI120MC / 2X barlow - captured in sharpcap2, stacked in autostakkert!2, wavelets in registax6

Hey guys, I recently purchased the Orion XT6 and I've been very pleased thus far. I've been using a 25mm eyepiece, and was slightly disappointed. I'm very new and didn't realize all the technical stuff about eyepieces. I'm very much into viewing things like the planets, not as much deep space. (Jupiter and Saturn especially) So, that being said, should I get a 10mm, a x2 Barlow or should I just get something else? I'm really looking forward to seeing your suggestions! (If you have any photos of Jupiter or the planets using one of the eyepieces with no added zoom from the camera, etc that would also be great) cheers, Tom

Hi SGL, I am setting up my planetary kit (Skymax 150 with 2x Barlow on an EQ5) hoping to bag Mars and Saturn. However I noticed a severe bright patch in the centre of the field when I use a 2x Barlow within an eyepiece projection tube. This bright batch lights up when a bright object is just out of view. When I remove the Barlow but keep the eyepiece projection tube in front of the camera the patch seems to disappear. Likewise when I use the Barlow without the eyepiece tube I get no bright patch. So what's causing the bright patch??? I really wanted to use the Barlow with the extension tube because I can alter the Barlow-camera distance, giving some control over magnification. Any suggestions??? Dan. Here are some pics to show the problem: Here is a pic with the eyepiece tube and a Barlow: Here's a pic without the Barlow but with the tube: Here's a pic without the extension tube but with the Barlow:

Hello everyone, I've got a question. I want to upgrade the visual back on the Mak 127. The standard back on the Mak is not pleasant to work with as seen in the image. I need to get rid of this plastic thing. I purchased a mak to sct adapter when I bought the scope, I never got around to doing anything until now as I've just acquired a Baader 2.25x barlow as shown in the image. Now, I've had a go of attaching the the Baader Barlow into the original plastic thing on the mak, it works .... but I'm not happy with the connection being made with the two locking screws, as there is still movement when the barlow, t-ring and Canon DSLR are all in the train. I've been having a look on FLO for some work around, does anyone have some input as to whether this will work. Mak to sct adapter-> Baader 2 inch to 1.25 reducer adapter->Baader 2.25x barlow + T ring & DSLR https://www.firstlightoptics.com/adapters/baader-2-to-125-reducer-adapter.html https://www.firstlightoptics.com/adapters/BaaderT2ext-1508153.html Any input or a better way of securing everything is greatly appreciated! Another option I've come across is this , Baader ClickLock 2"-1.25" Adapter and Baader T2 Extension Tube to bring it to 40mm when attached to the mak to sct adapter. Anyone have any experience with this?

I’m trying to improve imaging of Jupiter, Saturn, etc. I’m using a ZWO-120 webcam mounted straight to the visual back of CGEM 9.25 with a 2” adapter. I have recorded with and without a Celestron Luminos 2,5 barlow, see [pictures below. The images taken without the barlow turn out to be fairly decent, given the conditions. However, images taken with the barlow are much more washed out than I would imagine. I realize that exposure time will go up, image quality will go down to some degree, etc, but the difference in quality is so drastic that it really makes no sense at all to use the barlow. I see images taken with smaller telescopes that are much better in quality and in image size. Is it the barlow that I’m using? What am I doing wrong?

For less extreme magnification than 2x but which would take 2 inch eps, I was considering the Antares 1.6x Barlow. Using it in my 500mm refractor and 1260mm dob the latter with a Paracorr 2. Is this a good Barlow to get?

Hi, if i want to maximise magnification for Moon imaging can i use one of those zoom eyepieces that are typically 7-21mm at the same time as a Barlow? I'm looking at some of the zoom eyepieces but they don't seem to have threads on them, like this one (i notice that people buy it along with a Barlow so it must be doable but i like to check before buying!) : https://www.amazon.co.uk/Seben-Telescope-Eyepiece-7-5-22-5mm-Astronomy/dp/B00EL5XU9S/ref=pd_sbs_421_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=N3DP09GYBWEWZKQNJQPC Thanks, Gary.

Datyson DC623 x3 "Achromatic" Barlow lens, Chinese made, cost about £12 inc postage (from ebay). On arrival I saw it was all-metal and finished in black. All the screw parts were rattly loose so I was easily able to confirm that it contained just one negative lens element. I wanted something to check out how my f5 200p Helios behaved at around x300, so I took a chance on ordering one of these cheap Barlows. In my 127mm Mak it made the view bigger without adding any obvious crud of its own. In my f5 Startravel, it worked and the aberration of the scope itself masked any possible defects in the Barlow. In the 200p, paired with a Baader Classic Ortho 10mm, it split the double Pi Aquilae (1.4") which I had struggled to see otherwise. Verdict: worth considering if you don't need or can't afford a premium quality Barlow. The lens alone would cost more than the asking price if ordered from an optic lens supplier.

My telescope is the Skywatcher Explorer 130P GoTo Is it worth getting a 2.5mm EP for my telescope or a x3 Barlow lens. I'm asking because i would love to see mars and Saturn closer up for finer detail.

Never used a Barlow before but considering one now. Do I get a Focal Extender or a Barlow and whats the difference if any? Cheers

Evening everyone. Quick question about eyepieces in simple terminology: I understand that the lower the number of an eyepiece, the more zoom it provides, and different makers provide different FOV. My question is that, for example, if I use a 2x Barlow with an 8mm ep, would I have a 4mm ep? (12mm+2x = 6mm; 40mm+2x = 20mm, etc.)

I am looking for a really good Barlow, that doesn't compromise the performance even of the greatest EP's. Speaking of good EP, I already have a 3.5mm Delos - "Barlowing it" puts any scope on its edge anyway. I intend to use it on my 90/600 APO and possibly a c11 in the not-so-far future. Any recommendations, which one to take? Right now, I am looking at the Powermate 2x. I see, it's a corrected optics, but is it also APOchromatic? Other, quite exotic piece I found and seems interesting, is the Baader Fluorit Flatfield Converter. Latter seems interesting for planetary photography too.