Testing out my barlow

[2Karl]

After what seemed an eternity of weighing up different barlows in my price range, I bought a Revelation Astro 2.5 and some OVL filters and I had the opportunity to put it through its paces briefly last night.

 

Seeing was reasonably good, although I was observing across the other houses around me so there were a few times when the atmospheric distortion consipred against me, but I was able to get a nice sharp view of the gas giant, pairing the aforementioned barlow with the 9mm eyepiece which shipped with my 130SLT. I then spent an inordinate amount of time trying out the filters.

First up was the yellow #12 - it deadened the glare a little and helped me see the cloud bands in a little more detail

Next was the red #21. It just made Jupiter look angry.

Next was the blue #80A - now this was something special. Deadened the glare and also brought out a strong contrast on the cloud bands which were occasionally flickering out of view due to the atmosphere (the barlow really does magnify everything, doesn't it?)

Finally I tried the ND96. It's billed as a moon filter, but I figure I'll give it a go. Results were similar to the blue filter but with less contrast (although the hue was more natural)

I then tried the filters without the barlow, and realised that with an 80A just on my 9mm and no barlow the view of the planet was still spectacular and more detailed than previously.

A quick view then of the planet through the barlow with no filtering applied and then it very rudely disappeared behind some clouds, at which point I called it a night. My zoom lens should be arriving any day now, so it will be interesting to see the difference that makes.

[johninderby]

 

I like the Baader Moon & Skyglow filter for Jupiter. Great planetary filter not just a light pollution filter. Brings out detail and colour looks natural.