stargazing newbie

[Beardy30]

Well it was a clear night here and i went out after letting the scope cool for about 30 mins, i got aan amazing view of the moon with both the 10mm and 25mm stock eyepieces plus some great views of Sirus which looked like an exploding firework. Bit gutted on the Venus front though it was just a tiny bright dimond/ ball of light ...am i expecting too much?

Also the x2 barlow that came with my scope was hopeless with both eyepieces ...how do you use it and to look at what???

[richbyers]

dont expect much more than a bright crescent with venus- try a dark filter to cut the glare...saturns more the highlight.also barlows can be a pain getting them to focus- i had to take a file to mine to let the eyepiece get low enough to focus (I DO NOT RECCOMMEND DOING THIS!!! - MINE WAS FREE ONE )

rich

[Beardy30]

well using the barlow just made it a blur even with the 25mm on the viewing of the moon, got nothing from it Rich..it was hopeless

would you recomend any other EP's ....what mm size?

[richbyers]

the highest i push my 130 is with a 6.3 First Light Optics - Skywatcher SP Plossl eyepieces....just cheapish ones...theyre ok if youre on a tight budget like me

i dont think you could push the mag. more...ive viewed the moon with a barlow + 6.3 being really silly, and it was pretty bad!

[Beardy30]

so go for a high mm ..

say a 15mm might be better??

[richbyers]

well if you want higher magnification you need to go lower on the mm side, so between 10 and 5 mm

but as for the barlow im not sure....not matter how high mm i go, mine is still rubbish....i just use a lower mm to get higher magnification

[onesmallstep]

Upgrade your EPs to higher quality equivalents of the ones you currently use, this will pay dividends in terms of image resolution and clarity. The barlow is useful as it saves buying several EPs (but only if it works). Look at the eyepiece subforum for recommendations, also search under 'eyepiece reviews' in the search field to give some idea of what to expect from the upgrades.

HTH!