Skywatcher 150p and 2x Barlow

[GTR]

Hi all,

Just a couple of things from a novice really...

It was FINALLY clear skies last night over the Teesside/North Yorks area, so I drove out to the Moors and stopped at my usual place near the A171. Having not had a chance to use my scope for so long, I was hoping I hadn't buggered it in any way faffing about trying to clean some dust off the primary mirror, not realising it was best to leave well alone!

Anyway, I was not to be disappointed. The scope seemed to be working fine, however I did notice if I deliberately took it out of focus on a star, the blurry circle image and smaller circle were VERY slightly off centre. I presume it needs aligning then?

I saw wonderful views of Saturn with my 25mm and x2 Barlow. I believe I could also see one of it's moons below the planet too. The 10mm with Barlow however was a bit more tricky to use, although Saturn still looked great, and obviously bigger, it seemed to only be in view for a short while before racing off again!!

Other than viewing Saturn, Mars and Venus, (I think the really bright one IS Venus lol what an amateur!), I didn't think the Barlow was useful for much else, however that's probably me because I'm still yet to learn what to look at and where! I wouldn't know if Jupiter is around or not even!

Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed just scanning the skies with just the 25mm in the meantime, it's amazing how many stars are out there and who knows I may one day learn to use the barlow to spot other stuff too! :-)

[crazyjedi]

Hi

For the planets I use my Televue Radian 12mm but I guess any reasonable quality 10 or 12mm lens will be good.

To find what to look for and where it is I would highly recomend the free open source software Stellarium. It tells you in real time where everything is. Load it on your laptop and take it with you. You can run it in red light mode so your screen won't ruin your night vision. Google it and download it

[ronin]

As your magnification goes up the field of view goes down. So it takes an object less time to wander of of the field of view.

Sort of classic compromise. It is one of the reasons that people often suggest that you use medium powers on a dobsonian. I assume that it is a dobsonian mount. If an equitorial then tracking motors are required.