barlows?

[chunky]

not sure if this is the right place but. im looking for a decent barlow to go with a 8mm bst expl.im using it on a s/w 200pdob

[John]

The TAL 2x barlows seem to be considered the best budget buys - around £35 I think, if you can find some stock. That will give you 300x in your dob which would be too much power most of the time - a 6mm eyepiece (200x) would see a lot more use. Unless you already have one of those.

[chunky]

noo i dont have a 6mm. so having my 8mm and a 2 x barlow would be to much say for jupiter

[John]

noo i dont have a 6mm. so having my 8mm and a 2 x barlow would be to much say for jupiter

I've not found anything more than 240x useful on Jupiter so far, even with my 10" newtonian. More often than not 180x is giving the most definition and contrast.

Saturn and Mars might benefit from a little more though - Saturn seems to "take" higher magnification better than Jupiter does and Mars is so small you need it to make much out !.

I think you might find the jump from 150x to 300x just too large a step - you really need something around 200x I reckon.

Appreciate it's difficult though, this eyepiece choosing lark - more so than buying the scope in many ways

[Capricorn]

RVO sell an Antares 1.6x barlow, problem is that it is a 2" fitting. By the time you bought that and possibly an adaptor you could buy 2 more BST's.

[ismangil]

I got a 12mm BST on my f6 scope to have that 2mm exit pupil at 100x.

I plan to Barlow that to 200x when the condition allows. Tried it last night in the wind just for fun :-)

[chunky]

does the wind effect viewing then

[ismangil]

does the wind effect viewing then

Yes, the scope jiggles about in the wind so it became really difficult to focus and see details.