Stacking Barlow - How much power??

[bond19]

So I stacked an Antares x1.6 barlow on top of a x2 Powermate & Ethos 8mm yesterday and pointed to the moon. The views were incredible and it amazes me how much I can push my little 4" refractor. Sure the view was a bit 'wobbly' but the detail and contrast were still there. But how do I work out the magnification of view I was enjoying?

I'm sure it's a simple calculation, but I'd be interested to know for sure what power I was pushing my scope to?

(telescope was 102mm aperture & F880mm)

[jetstream]

Would it be a factor of 3.2x for 352x?

[Cornelius Varley]

Multiply the powers of the barlows to get the overall magnification increase. = 880 x 2 x 1.6 / 8 = 352x

[bond19]

Wow.. So much for 50x per inch of aperture.. That has pleasantly surprise me! And I felt it I more to go, but alas I was out of glass.

[John]

The Moon can soak up lots of power when seeing conditions are good. Other targets are not quite so receptive, even with a find scope such as the TV 102. Jupiter is an example of an object that does not respond so well to ultra-high magnifications. Saturn and Mars however can be pushed more.

[bond19]

Hi John,

You're right. So far I've pushed Jupiter to x175 but I think I could go to x190 most nights. I tried x220 a couple of times but it started to get messy. I'll have to see what EP I need to fill the x190 spot.

[christhebrit]

Yeah, I'm not sure the moon applies to the rules of magnification. Sounds like good views though