what lenses to use with a meade ext60

[bigdaz]

hello

i would like some advise as to which lenses i could try using to see objects in reasonable detail.

so far i have had good results looking at the moon.

when i tried to look at stars and i brought the lense into focus i just got a slightly bigger veiw of what i sawith my naked eye.it was brighter and larger but not defined in any way.

i have a 9mm lense and a 25mm lense.

what other lenses will i need to buy or is it that i am not doing something correctly.

i am only a begginer so please be patient.

thank you

daz

[John]

Hi Daz,

Stars will never look any more than points of light whatever scope you use and no matter how much you magnify them. What you can see is that some stars that look like a single star with your eye can turn out to be double stars when viewed through a scope. The star Mizar in the handle of the Plough (Ursa Major) is a good example of that.

With your scope 120x is the maximum magnification that it is worth using though 100x is probably a more useful max on most nights. I think the ETX60 has a focal length of 350mm so you would need a 3.5mm focal length eyepiece to get to 100x. It might be better to get a 2x barlow lens and use it with your 9mm eyepiece - that will give you 78x which should be quite useful.

John

[bigdaz]

hi john

thats brilliant

if i get a 2x barlow would it be worth my while also getting any other eyepieces.

cheers

daz

[John]

Daz,

You could also get a 6.3mm focal length plossl eyepiece which would give you 56x on it's own and 112x with the 2x barlow. You would then have a nice spread of powers to use now and a set which would be useful if you move to a difference scope sometime in the future.

John

[John]

Hi Daz (me again !)

I thought you might be interested in this review of your scope:

http://www.cloudynights.com/item.php?item_id=733

The reviewer (Rod Mollise) is an experienced USA-based astronomer - he obviously enjoyed using the ETX60

When you are considering a barlow lens I think you will need to get one of the short ones (known as "shortys") - I'm not sure the long type would fit in your scope.

John

[bigdaz]

hi john

that was very helpfull.

i havnt got a tripod for the scope yet so i just ligned it up by eye.i am going to have to get a tripod

so i can use the scopes goto function.

now for some new lenses and eypieces

cheers

daz

[bigdaz]

Hi John

i have just bought a 2xbarlow from the for sale section and have managed to buy a 6.5mm plossi,will this be ok or do i still need a 6.3mm plossi.

cheers

BigDaz

[John]

Hi Daz,

The 6.5mm will do the job - no need for a 6.3mm.

John

[scotastro]

Daz

You don't have to wait to get a tripod to use the GOTO. A rigid table top will do the job. I know someone who used the top of a B&D Workbench to test out a Celestron Goto and it worked fine. If you knock the scope though it will mess up the ailnment.

Mike

[bigdaz]

Thanks John

now to wait for a clear sky

Mike

if a solid surface will do is it just a matter of using the 2 star alignment.

is this how i get around the problem of leveling up the scope.

cheers

BigDaz