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Explorer 150 pl


Guest Derek S

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Hello i am new to astronomy and bought a Skywatcher explorer 150pl,the scope i am happy with,the eyepieces not so sure.Scope came with a 10 a 25 and a 2xBarlow first two are fine the barlow appears to do nothing at all,now are the eye pieces supplies just srandard stock,i do not mind replacing them but not with expensive ones,and ideas on this be appreciated.Other queery hope this is the right place for this i have a Canon sx540 bridge camera fixed lens,so i bought a badder digiscopy adaptor,all i get is a blur or nothing at all plus a ton of vignetting,i can not zoom out as this camera has a huge zoom on it to long for the adaptor,any help wil be appreciated

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Hi Derek,

I also have the SW 150-PL , so hopefully can answer at least some of your questions!

The 10mm and 25mm eyepieces sound like the standard ones that come with the scope. The Barlow on mine works fine - the Barlow should have a lens screwed into the bottom of it. I find i spend most of my time with the 25mm in the focuser. I only use the 10mm and Barlow on planets or the moon. Just too much mag for anything else! I am hoping to upgrade the eyepieces at some point to some wider field of view jobs, but for now they will do me.

Can't help you with the camera question I'm afraid, as not familiar with that camera or the attachment you mention - sorry!

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Hi Nigeyboy  thanks for replying yes they are the lens that come with the scope.You said Barlow should have a lens screwed in to the bottom of it,do you mean a lens droped into the top of it.As for the camera i got a feeling it is unsuitable might have to buy a used DSLR body.My camera is pictured below it has a very powerfull zoom but  a fixes lens

download.jpg

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Hi Derek

The Barlow has its own lens built in at the base. Mine unscrews so your mention of the Barlow not seeming to work made me think perhaps the lens is missing. I will take a pic when I get home later to show what I mean.

I think using that camera may be tricky! I am just getting into fitting my own dslr to the 150pl and need to get a proper adapter. Hopefully someone will be along with experience of using such a camera on a scope!

cheers

Nige

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Hi Nige i have checked my Barlow it does have a lens  is unscewable for some reason,i just pp it in the eye piece holder then drop say a 25 into the Barlow.i really am a novice at the mo

Regards derek

                                               

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I agree that my camera is the wrong type emclosed is a moon shot i took with  on a tripod zoom fully extended,but this is its limit,pity as it is a nice camera

vlcsnap-2018-09-17-22h40m46s324.png

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12 hours ago, Derek S said:

Hi Nige i have checked my Barlow it does have a lens  is unscewable for some reason,i just pp it in the eye piece holder then drop say a 25 into the Barlow.i really am a novice at the mo

Regards derek

                                               

This is correct. For visual use the barlow goes in the focuser and then an eyepiece goes into the barlow. This will double the magnification that you get from the eyepiece. For example the 25 mm eyepiece normally gives 1200 / 25 = 48X magnification. With the barlow added you will get 2 x 1200 / 25 = 96X magnification. This will be most obvious on planets and the moon. Stars are point sources so they will never appear any larger, but the space between stars will increase.

With regards to better eyepieces for visual use the previously mentioned BST Starguiders are a good choice at a relatively low cost. 

If you just want to get some quick snaps of the brighter objects that you can see through your eyepiece then you will probably have more luck with a mobile phone camera. To use the Canon you would have to find a way of mounting it so that the end of the camera lens is the same distance above the eyepiece as your eye would be. If you are actually more interested in serious astrophotography then you will likely have to buy a new mount, telescope and camera as visual and photographic setups have different requirements. 

12 hours ago, Nigeyboy said:

Here are those shots i promised of the Barlow.

DC04D7D9-903F-4DB0-A5DE-1DFC7DED97E9.jpeg

That is not how you unscrew the lens cell from the barlow. The black part that you show still attached to the silver part is the part that should be unscrewed. Once that part has been removed it can be screwed into the bottom of an eyepiece for approximately a 1.5X increase in magnification.

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