Getting the most out of the Orion Starblast 6

[GVD82]

I am new to astronomy, or should I say newly reintroduced as an adult. I recently purchased the Orion Starblast 6 as a starter scope. After much research and endless hours of debate I chose the starblast 6 because it seemed like the best all around scope to provide decent planetary views while just starting out and in the learning stages of use but also have enough light gathering capability for the dimmer deep sky objects that just aren't possible to see with the smaller aperture scopes. With that said does anyone have any suggestions on best size, style, and brand eyepieces, upgrades for the OTA, or advice in general on how to get the most out of this scope. I am more interested in the deep sky objects but am open to any and all suggestions of this paticular size & style scope. Good or bad I'd still like to hear about it.

[freds]

I have a Starblast 6 

First of all I am new to astronomy ( 2 months ) and am happy with the Starblast 6

IMO. the Orion kit eyepieces are Good. They also have a lot of good reviews.

For starters,  before you spend lots of money. I would get a 2X barlow and go from there .

With the barlow the 10mm will be 150X , good for planetary. The 25mm 30X is good for DSO's

[skfboiler]

I have a similar scope from Orion on an EQ mount.  It is also a 150mm f/5 scope.  Therefore, I know that you are going to enjoy that scope.  Yes, get a 2x Barlow, I have the Orion Shorty Barlow which is good.  Barlow your 10mm eyepiece and should see a lot of detail on Jupiter and Saturn.  You should also be able to see the small planetary nebulae and small globular clusters.  Barlow the 12mm eyepiece and that will give you decent exit pupil to see galaxies and resolve the stars in a lot of the larger globular clusters.  I upgraded my Plossls that came with the scope to the Orion Stratus eyepieces.  They have a lot of eye relief; very comfortable to look through and the price is mid-range I would say.  However, your Plossls are decent eyepieces.  They should serve you well until you are ready to upgrade.   If you have some light pollution like I do, the EZ Finder will not do you any good.  If you want to do some serious star hopping, I would upgrade to the 6x30 or 9x50 right angle, correct image finder(RACI).  That with the book "Pocket Sky Atlas" you should be able to find a lot of stuff.

[Dave In Vermont]

Greetings and welcome to SGL, GVD! Nice to see you here. New Jersey, yes - I'm to your North.

Now that a 'welcome' has been accomplished, do you have a copy of Stellarium yet? This is a huge and one of the best planetarium-programs. Star-charts by any other name. In which you enter your location, and it will show you your night sky on any night (or day if you wish) you want. And it will be as detailed as you want it to be - stars, planets, Moons, nebulae, galaxies, even man-made satellites in orbit above you. Similar software-programs can run you a few hundred $$$. But Stellarium is FREE. Really. So here are the links to the program, and instructions to show you the way:

http://www.stellarium.org/
 
As for instructions, the most current one's are posted in Wiki due to their being new features & functions being created almost daily. There is also a Pdf. that's almost up-to-date. Here's the Wiki-Link:
 
http://www.stellarium.org/wiki/index.php/Stellarium_User_Guide
 
And the Pdf. is here:
 
http://barry.sarcasmogerdes.com/stellarium/stellarium_user_guide-new.pdf
 
This should help you to find just about everything under the Sun.
 

I would suggest you hold off on buying any new eyepieces just yet. Using what you already have for awhile, along with a way to find things that interest you with Stellarium, will help you narrow your interests down a bit first. That way you'll know more about what you like and want. Then we can make some educated suggestions of what would be the best upgrades to aim for. And why.

So that's my 2¢ for now.

Clear & dark skies -

Dave

[ghostdance]

Google 'Astro Baby' and follow her excellent advice and guide to improve the focuser ( the weakest point of the SB6 imho) - removing the fearsome stock sticky gunk and replacing with a good silicon grease really smoothes its' action.

I love my SB6i - a great little (ish) scope. Hope you have the same love affair w/ yours

[Alan64]

Hello, and welcome,

I purchased the StarBlast 6 myself, back in the spring of 2013.  I didn't use it much at first.  When I got around to using it more often, I placed it on an adjustable low-slung table and sat in a chair next to it.  Since the OTA came with tube rings, I later decided to add a dovetail and transfer it over to an existing alt-azimuth mount, and one that I've had for many years...

I've found that I tend to use it a lot more as a result.  Insofar as the quality of the secondary and primary mirrors within, I've been very pleased, and surprised even.

Be certain to turn the finder's laser off after an observing session.  I've left mine on over the day too many times to count, and had to replace the battery as a result.  The finder isn't anything to "write home about", and I've found myself practically helpless when the battery died.  It does its job, therefore there's no real need to replace it.  A Telrad might be considered, and as an upgrade or complement to the existing finder...

http://www.scopestuff.com/ss_telr1.htm 

One thing that you might want to do in future, which will result in improved contrast and blacker sky backgrounds when observing, is to flock the entire interior of the optical tube.  If you don't want to go to the trouble of disassembling as illustrated in the link below, you can flock at least the interior opposite the focusser from the front edge to roughly 9" back towards the rear of the optical tube.  A 9" x 20" square of flocking would cover that most-critical area...

http://www.washedoutastronomy.com/washedoutastronomy.com/sites/washedoutastronomy.com/files/u3/ZhumellFlockingTop/index.jpg

http://www.washedoutastronomy.com/washedoutastronomy.com/content/flock-it/index.html

http://www.cloudynights.com/page/articles/cat/articles/how-to/flocking-a-newtonian-r780

http://www.fpi-protostar.com/hitack.htm...and where you can order a 10" x 30" sheet for $5.00, or a 30" x 24" to flock the entire tube for $15.00.

Our telescopes' manufacturer, Synta, does not provide that extra feature, and if you'll notice, the inside of the tube is a bit shiny.  We have to do it ourselves.  The improvement is quite noticeable, and well worth the effort.  The goal is to deaden the tube's interior to the effects of any and all stray artificial and natural light, which spills into the telescope via the front opening: street lamps, a neighbour's porch light, the Moon even, et al.

Flocking the backside and the edges of the secondary mirror, not to mention the interior of the focusser's drawtube, helps, too.  Some even go as far as blackening the edge of the primary mirror itself, too, and with a Sharpie, or an ultra-flat black paint as I prefer, with this edge-blackened flat as an example...

http://neilenglish.net/wp-content/uploads/361.jpg

A 6" f/5 is an ideal all-around telescope, and for observing the gamut: for deep-sky; as well as lunar, planetary and stellar.  For the higher magnifications within the solar system, with the telescope's focal-length at 750mm, a 2x or 3x barlow will be required.  This 1.5x/2x barlow is popular...

http://agenaastro.com/gso-1-25-2x-achromatic-barlow-lens.html

I have the non-twist lock version of this one, and identical otherwise... http://agenaastro.com/antares-1-25-2x-barlow-lens-twist-lock-adapter-t-thread-ub2stl.html

I have this one, too... http://agenaastro.com/antares-1-25-3x-barlow-lens-ub3s.html

Here's the rest.  Read the user-reviews as well as those found throughout the internet before purchasing anything... http://agenaastro.com/optical-accessories/barlows-extenders/1-25-barlows-extenders.html

You have these two eyepieces...

They're more comfortable to use than those that came with my telescope when I was a kid...

The ones on the right are from my very first telescope, and from  the early 1970s: a 20mm Kellner and a 6mm modified-Huygenian.  The 20mm isn't bad at all, for a .965" barrel.

It's best to get one or two additional eyepieces at a time, with an added feature or two and perhaps of better quality, and without breaking the bank.  Over the months and years, one can build up a truly fine and useful set that will serve now and with other telescopes that might be acquired in future.  Avoid eyepiece sets cobbled together by Celestron, Meade, Orion, et al.  The vast majority of them contain Plossls just as those included with our kits, and often contain duplicates of what we already have.  You already have a 25mm(30x).  You won't need to replace that one.  For one of the lowest practical powers and the widest fields-of-view with the StarBlast 6...

I just got this Vixen NPL 30mm Plossl for my telescopes, including my 6" f/5, and as a "finder".  It gives a magnification of only 25x, and is also ideal for scanning the Milky Way in the summer, and observing the galaxy in Andromeda and the Pleiades in the winter...

http://agenaastro.com/vixen-30mm-npl-plossl-eyepiece.html ...or... http://agenaastro.com/gso-32mm-plossl-eyepiece.html

Moving on down in focal-length, or up in magnification, as the case may be, wider fields-of-view are desired, along with larger eye-lenses and greater eye-relief.  Plossls are fine for the lower magnifications, but for the higher...

http://agenaastro.com/agena-15mm-enhanced-wide-angle-ewa-eyepiece.html(50x) ...or... http://agenaastro.com/bst-16mm-flat-field-eyepiece.html (47x)

A 15mm combined with a 2x barlow will simulate a 7.5mm(100x), whilst retaining the comfort of the 15mm.  With a 3x barlow, a 5mm(150x) is realised with the 15mm.

The bundled 10mm(75x) Plossl will have tighter eye-relief and an average field-of-view compared to others; the 10mm with a 2x barlow(5mm/150x), and a 3x barlow(3.3mm/227x).

The bundled 25mm(30x) can be barlowed as well: 2x(12.5mm/60x), and 3x(8.3mm/90x).

Barlows are quite versatile, and great fun. 

With the 6" f/5, 150x will be the highest useful magnification for most objects perhaps; but some, like the Moon for instance, can take higher magnifications, up to 350x per specs, but only under the best and ideal seeing conditions, which is rare.  200x-250x would be more realistic.  However... ...

For die-hard fans of "empty magnifications", a 5mm, or 6mm eyepiece, like these...

http://agenaastro.com/agena-1-25-dual-ed-eyepiece-5mm.html#product_tabs_power_reviews...or... http://agenaastro.com/agena-6mm-enhanced-wide-angle-ewa-eyepiece.html

...would be the shortest focal-length to be considered in a dedicated ocular; the 5mm, when combined with a barlow: 2x(2.5mm/300x), and, just for fun, 3x(1.7mm/441x).

Of course, either the 5mm or 6mm can be used without a barlow, and for 150x or 125x, respectively.

At the higher magnifications, with non-motorised mounts as our own, objects depart the field-of-view at a faster rate, which is why eyepieces or eyepiece/barlow combinations with the widest fields possible are usually preferred.

[Alan64]

One day, with a point-and-shoot camera, along with the camera's zoom function, I took this image of the collimation-scene of my 6" f/5, and through the pinhole of the supplied collimation cap...

You will want the "scene" of your own, as seen through the pinhole and as reflected by the secondary mirror, to look very similar if not exactly, and to ensure that you're getting the best optical performance.

This is the collimation-cap supplied with the telescope.  Always keep it in a safe place, as I've misplaced mine on occasion...

If the "scene" doesn't appear as shown above, then you'll need to collimate the optical system, and again, for best performance.  Collimating a Newtonian isn't as difficult as first thought, and can be mastered in no time.

Hopefully your secondary assembly arrived properly-aligned and tight, like mine did.  I've only had to adjust the primary mirror in the back, which is the easiest to perform.

Owning and observing with a Newtonian requires learning and mastering the process, or art, of collimation.  Just as a guitar's strings are adjusted for the best sound, so a Newtionian must be collimated for the best image.  The instruction manual that came with the kit offers a basic tutorial on collimating.  If more information is required, there are many resources available on the internet, and also, of course, here from the helpful members of Stargazer's Lounge.  This tutorial on collimation is popular, and there are others as well...

http://www.astro-baby.com/collimation/astro%20babys%20collimation%20guide.htm

Our 6" f/5 Newtonians are considered "fast", at f/5, and observationally-versatile as I've described.  The secondary mirrors within our telescopes are off-set, and for directing most if not all of the light gathered by the primary to the eyepiece.  The following article helps to explain that aspect.  It threw me at first, but I'm understanding it better now...

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-equipment/offsetting-your-secondary-mirror/

That described herein will help ensure that one enjoys the sharpest and brightest images possible.