My new pieces and how to use them

[Starbuddypal]

I have a Celestron Powerseeker 70EQ with a GSO 1.25" SuperView Eyepiece - 20mm. I recently got a Celestron Omni 2X Barlow lens and a Celestron zoom 8mm-24mm. What is the best use out of these three to view celestial objects? I’m trying to view Jupiter and Saturn and Mars but still figuring out which to use to see features (if that’s possible with what I have anyway)

[vlaiv]

Powerseeker 70mm has 700mm of focal length.

You calculate magnification that eyepiece gives you with your telescope is to divide focal length of telescope with focal length of eyepiece.

Barlow when inserted before eyepiece will double (x2 barlow) - focal length of telescope, or in another words will double magnification you calculate from focal lengths.

GSO super view on its own will give you 700 / 20 = x35 power

Celestron zoom eyepiece will give you between 700 / 8 and 700 / 24  = x87.5 - x29.1667 power

Your telescope supports up about x140 power (more likely around x100). That is enough power to see details on the planets - Jupiter and Saturn, but Mars is too small target to see anything but tiny red dot.

Ideally, you want to put barlow and then your zoom eyepiece (like in this image):

just use your 8-24mm zoom instead of Omni 9mm plossl show in image above.

Turn your zoom eyepiece to about 16mm mark (it should be marked and even have click stops, and I believe one mark will be 16mm). If eyepiece is not marked for focal lengths, then turning it to approx 16mm is easy - it is about half way between max left and max right.

In any case - zoom eyepiece is handy for precisely that reason - it zooms, so you can put it to lowest power to put the planet in the field of view - then zoom a bit in to see if you can spot additional details - and you continue zooming in (and adjusting focus if needed) until you get the largest image that is not too blurry - dial in the magnification for best view.

[happy-kat]

When viewing get comfortable and be prepared to watch for a while, details may appear when the seeing and atmospheric disruption settles in moments of clarity.

[mikemarotta]

7 hours ago, Starbuddypal said:

I have a Celestron Powerseeker 70EQ with a GSO 1.25" SuperView Eyepiece - 20mm. I recently got a Celestron Omni 2X Barlow lens and a Celestron zoom 8mm-24mm. What is the best use out of these three to view celestial objects? I’m trying to view Jupiter and Saturn and Mars but still figuring out which to use to see features (if that’s possible with what I have anyway)

I have a National Geographic 70 mm and oculars ("eyepieces") in the same range. I saw features on Mars with 12mm and 2X Barlow. What I could not do was split all four stars in episolon Lyrae. I tried on three different nights. I can do it with my 102 mm refractor, not the 70. So, there's a limit to how much light you are gathering. But you should have no problems with Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, the easy Messiers and binaries. As happy-kat recommends, get comfortable. Your eyes will see more. And most seeing is done with the brain. You will see 60 times more in 10 minutes than you will in 10 seconds.