barlow lense

[jaymz stealth]

ok might seem a stupid question but what was does the barlow lense go on it doesent say in any manual i have

curently i have the telescope then the focuser going into the diaganal then the barlow lense then the eye piece

is that the right way to have it

[sologuitarist61]

Absolutely, got it in one !!

[Cornelius Varley]

A barlow lens increases the focal length of the telescope by a factor of 2, 3 or more depending on the power of the barlow and so increases the magnification of the eyepiece by the same factor. A 2x barlow will increase the focal length of a telescope with a focal length of 1000mm to 2000mm, a 3x barlow would increase the focal length to 3000mm etc. The normal place to postion the barlow is between the diagonal and the eyepiece but could also be placed between the telescope and the diagonal to give greater magnification. A barlow should only be used when you need greater magnification than your eyepieces would normally give you.

Peter

[jaymz stealth]

ok i have just been out for hour and half i put the barlow inbetween telescope and diaganal and for first time since i have had the scope i could see stuff

i mean with just the eye peices things were dot couldent tell what i was looking at and when i used barlow inbetween diaganal and eye piece it was blurry and it already focused to bot maxes but still blurry basicly the only thing i could look at was moon

so like i said i swaped barlow to between telescope and diaganal and it was amazing i couldent see and detail what so ever but i could see things were planets for example venus i could see it was only half in the light mars was small but could see the outlines of the planet and it had a red tint and saturn was the best it was white but i clearly could see the rings and what i think was a moon

[Tribal-Wolf]

Sounds like you've sorted it then, well done

[tjr]

As Peter says, the barlow usually gets placed between the diagonal and EP. It's not always necessary to use one in your setup either - only when you want to multiply the magnification of your EP by whatever factor the barlow offers. It's odd that you are not able to focus well on anything without your barlow in place as your post describes.