advice please for a newbie

[Beardy30]

Hi,

I have the skywatcher 130m and want to improve on my observation of the planets and the moon. I have the stock 25MM and 10mm ep and the 6x24 finderscope.

It has been suggested i should get a 6x30 finderscope and a TAl x2 Barlow plus an addition ep ...can anyone confirm if this is sound advice and if so which ep mmm size to opt for good visual detail?

Many thanks:confused:

[LukeSuppalot]

Hi James

The Tal x2 barlow will be a good addition. They're a nice piece of kit. I would try the barlow before getting an eyepiece. You may find its enough for the planets and moon.

As for a bigger finder scope, are you having problems finding objects? If so try checking out a telrad or rigel quickfinder.

Hope this helps.

Luke.

[onesmallstep]

Add a moon filter to your kit if you haven't already got one.

[Mr Q]

The 25mm EP should be good for wide fields of view (low power) and the 10mm good for medium power. Using a 2x barlow with the 10mm will give you 5mm power, which is at the limits of the highest power that will still give reasonable views. Any higher power will offer only marginal views at best.

If you want to get better views, get the barlow and upgrade the stock EPs with higher quality ones of similar mm size in the future. Though generally stock EPs are of marginal quality, they can give good views just the same until better quality EPs are used.

Going from a 6x24 to a 6x 30 won't provide any noticeable improvement. If you want to upgrade the finder scope, go for a 6x50, which will give you brighter views with the same field of view.

[queeniejo]

Hi James

The Tal x2 barlow will be a good addition. They're a nice piece of kit. I would try the barlow before getting an eyepiece. You may find its enough for the planets and moon.

As for a bigger finder scope, are you having problems finding objects? If so try checking out a telrad or rigel quickfinder.

Hope this helps.

Luke.

I agree Luke, i am still very new to this but my first purchase for my skliner 150 dob was a tal x2 barlow, which gave me 4 ep's instead of 2. Obviously in the future i will upgrade these, but for now, this combination is more than adequate for me.

Next i bought a telrad finder, which i have to say, was money well spent. I was rubbish at finding anything with the original finder, but with the telrad can find what i want fairly easily.

Lots more things i'd like, but i will learn to walk before trying to run.

Jo

[Beardy30]

cheers guys, some good advice, i have unpacked the new scope and it came with the barlow x2 and a moon filter so looks like i am good to go