Looking at the moon

[RobinsNest]

I have recently bought a skywatcher telescope with a 1500mm focal length. Two eyepieces came with the scope, a 25mm wide and a 10mm, plus a Barlow lens. I have seen some good images of the moon with the 25mm wide but I have read I would get more detailed images with the 10mm and the Barlow? Am I doing something wrong as when I try this combination or just the 10mm by itself it is not possible to see the moon.

[Derick]

Well actually, with the 10mm you get a maginification of 150X without the barlow... So first you need to do a good focus THEN aim at the moon but you'll get just a fraction of it sdince you're "zooming" so much... If you put the barlow on... let says you have a 2X barlow lens... you'll get a 300X magnification... Wich is a lot for the moon... You'll be looking at craters mostly... repeat the focus procedure with a star BEFORE looking at the moon! 

Good luck! 

[Bizibilder]

Do you mean you can only see a black background?  If so it may be that you are not pointing the scope at the moon - it is surprisingly easy to "miss" it!v  You may have to move the scope around a little - often you can find the "glow" around the Moon (caused by our hazy atmosphere) and this can help you find the target.

Alternatively, with the 10mm and Barlow you will get a much dimmer image and it will be out of focus - so again you may think you can see "nothing".  If you focus carefully you should find the Moon's surface detail will come into clear view.  With this set-up you will also see a much smaller area of the Moon's surface - as you increase the magnification the field of view becomes smaller.

Try using just the 10mm eyepiece first - you will have to refocus - and then put the Barlow in (the barlow goes into the focusser first with the eyepiece being put into the Barlow tube) and refocus again.  You should be able to see the moon with all three combinations.

[crashtestdummy]

The standard 10mm skywatcher eyepiece isn't very good and won't be usuable when barlowed.I would buy a good 5mm eyepiece.try with and without the 2" eytension piece that comes with the focuser as it's likely you aren't reaching focus

[RobinsNest]

Many thanks for your reply, speaking as a novice as you may have guessed, what do you mean a good focus, thanks for your prompt reply.

[RobinsNest]

Can you recomend a good 5mm eyepiece? Thanks?

[RobinsNest]

Ok thanks, will try to refocus. As you may have gathered am an astrological novice! Where abouts do you live in norfolk?

[starman1969]

You may find a moon filter helps. I haven't got one, mind. I use sunglasses if it is too bright. Don't try this with the sun!

[ronin]

The 10mm and the barlow are generally poor, combined they are worse. Unfortunately for cost purpose the now supplied eyepieces simply have dropped in quality and performance.

Bit cheeky but if you can get along to the Norwich Astro Soc and see if anyone has an eyepiece for you to drop in and try out on your scope.

That way you would get to (hopefully) experience the difference between say an 8mm plossl and an 8mm BST.

For your scope I would not really think of anything much less then 8mm. The smaller eyepiece option seems to be 5mm and at 300x that is too much for 98% of usual conditions.

[jason.p]

Don't worry about being an "astrological" novice, most of us on here are (hopefully:o)

Sent from my GT-P5110 using Tapatalk 2

[Mr Spock]

As you may have gathered am an astrological novice!

I think you mean 'astronomy' not 'astrology'

[ronl]

When you say can't see the Moon, do you mean you can't get

it to focus, or you can't see anything at all, because going from

25mm to 10mm you need to really take your time to refocus, and

if you are close to the terminator the moon will move out of view

quite fast, so check in your finder scope to make sure you are

still on your target, the 10mm is not great but observing the Moon

you should get a reasonable view.

[Pig]

I think Derick means use the 10mm on a star so you have a good view and then try it on the moon with a Barlow  you then should be able to focus it.

[Derick]

Can you recomend a good 5mm eyepiece? Thanks?

Don't go out buy eyepieces yet... nor filters... if you're a novice the 25 and 10 mm will do the job for a good while!!!! First off... we need to know if you actually "saw" the moon in the eyepiece as many mentionned... then if so... what i mean buy good focus.. is to actually achieve "focus" with a brigth star...

To do that, find any medium-birght star with your 25mm and just focus on it "make it become as little and as sharp as possible", then lock the focuser!

When that's done.. you need to align what you see in the eyepiece withwhat you see with your finder scope... whats in the middle of it's crossair needs to be centered in the eyepiece... again use an easy bright star like vega or arcturus (or even the moon for that matter) and find it with your finder scope. When target is in place (middle of the crossair) look in the eyepiece and search or center the object that you got in the finder scope... when centered in the eyepiece go back to the finder scope and use the small screws around it while looking into it to center the object!

When thats done... enjoy the moon or whatever you target in your finder scope with your 25mm.

Remember you need to go through the focus part everytime you change eyepiece... 10mm is harder since you have less then half of the field of view compared to the 25mm! If you align your finder scope using the 10mm it'll be more accurate!

Start using your barlow only when you get comfortable when with both your eyepieces... the barlow takes off again half of your FOV!!! 

Let us know how it went!

Cheers!

[RobinsNest]

Thanks for the advice Derick, I can use the 25mm quite well on the moon but having trouble using the 10mm. When I use the 10mm on the moon all I can see is a white blur even after trying to focus and aligning the finder scope.

I have not yet tried focusing on a bright star first but will this make any difference if I have already tried to focus on the moon?

[Derick]

Well honestly if you got it with the 25mm you should be able to get it right with the 10.. if its blured then either the focus is wrong but i think you would have managed to get it pretty right directly on the moon without doing it on a star... so maybe the eyepiece itself is faulty! =(

[bingevader]

Curious.

So, when you use the 25mm, is the image nice and sharp and clear?

What happens when you turn the focus knob, can you make the image blurred and then refocus it to a sharp clear image again?

If not, and it remains the same, them I'm just wondering if the focuser is locked but already reasonably focused in the 25mm.

There's a thumb screw on the bottom of the focuser that allows you to lock it in position and might need loosening.

Cheers

[ChrisG3484]

I have a skywatcher telescope and with the 10mm eyepiece I have found the focusing to be very fine, it is very easy to go one way or another. Personally I don't use the 10mm that much, but if I do, it usually takes me ~5 mins to get the focusing bang on.