Celestron travelscope 70 help - am i doing this right or expecting to much

[S1m0n]

The larger you magnify it, the harder it's going to be to use. After you touch the scope you have to let it settle as it isn't the sturdiest, and obviously this effect is magnified with barlows etc. I wouldn't push it any harder than the eye pieces it came with. Doing so (I reckon) would be a waste of dollar. Also, if you have a 10mm eye piece in that's barlowed, you are going to be touching the scope every 10 seconds to keep the object in view, then having to wait 5 seconds for it to settle down again (stop shaking).

Enjoy the objects in the night sky that this scope is good at, like the M45. But a Ford Fiesta is limited in terms of top speed, as much as this scope is limited in terms of magnification etc

This is what I like about the 200p dob when you nudge the scope to keep the object in view the scope keeps steady and you get amazing views.

That calculator s an excellent pice of information to show you what to expect I used it to see what I could possibly get using the scopes maximum optimal viewable magnification.

To the OP the advice given from these guys is spot on and well worth taking in.

[mishymoon]

thanks all - all taken onboard

[EuropaWill]

I would recommend you get a simple 2x shorty barlow and not the 5mm eyepiece. There is a big difference. First of all, a barlow actually improves the image and increases eye relief. The eye relief of a 5mm eyepiece will be implossibly unfomfortable (you'll have to jam your eye directly onto the glass to see the entire field of view). If you get a 32mm plossl in addition to it, you'll have a nice range as a 2x barlow will double the magnification or half the eyepiece Focal length. So if you barlow a 20mm eyepiece you'll effectively get a 10mm eyepiece (with better eye relief ). A 32mm will turn into a 16mm, and your 10mm will turn into a 5mm. It'll extend your magnifcation range for different objects.

Secondly, i would concur that 100x will probably be the max of this scope on a good night. Not all nights are equal. Bad seeing (atmospheric turbulence) can cause a shaky out of focus image, its not the fault of the scope, but the conditions. You might have to wait for a while to get a good image for the brief moments the sky settles down for a solid view. 100x is more than enough magnification to see detail on the planet Jupiter. You should see at least one faint cloud band, possible more.

A 90 degree mirror diagonal should provide better astronomical images than the 45 degree prism diagonal (which is optimized for daytime viewing and not optical quality for astronomical viewing). You will be able to see some detail on Jupiter at around 50x - 100x. Any smaller it may be difficult. You may also want to use the aperture mask (smaller hold in the lens cap) so that it improves the image quality on the brightest objects because it has a way of improving optical performance at the expense of light gathering.