Lenses

[Jonesee]

Can you use any brand of lense on a telescope or do you have to be brand specific ?

I have just taken ownership of my first scope and it came with a 25mm & 10mm  1.25" eyepieces and before I buy a barlow lense I just have to make sure I can use it in my scope.

I have an Celestron Astromaster 130 EQ

[Cornelius Varley]

Any brand of eyepiece can be used with any brand of telescope. The only requirement is that the fitting size (1.25" or 2") matches the focuser size of the telescope,.1.25" eyepieces can be used with 2" focusers with a 2"/1.25" eyepiece adapter.

[Langy]

Any 1.25" EP should be fine. I bought a 2x Barlows from Scopes and Skies gave them a call, still not really tested it yet to see how good it is with an EP but with my DSLR I'd say it looks reasonable.

I've found the 25mm is far better than the 10mm EP that comes with the scope. So I've just bought an 8mm EP from STL (through eBay). I'm hoping to get out with it tomorrow night as the weight, size and build of this EP make the stock EP look like kids toys for a toddler.

Details in the post here http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/207982-what-upgrade-next/

If you specifically what a Barlows then request some info on some reasonable quality ones. If you are after more EP then look at my post and the type I ordered are supposed to be very good but at £49 each may or may not be in your budget range.

Buying cheap you will find that you will be disappointed and eventually not use it and replace it later on.