Barlow lens advice

[PatrickO]

I have the Celestron Omni 2x Barlow lens.

For planetary imaging with a Meade 8" SCT and ZWO ASI224MC camera, what would I have to spend to get a substantially better Barlow?

Also, should I be thinking of an Atmospheric Dispersion Corrector?

Many thanks, Patrick 

[Cosmic Geoff]

For what it's worth, I bought the Celestron Omni 2x Barlow lens to use for planetary imaging with an 8" SCT and a ASI 224MC camera. 
I never got results that were better resolved than without the Barlow, or any better than a kit Barlow lens.  I think the seeing might have been the main problem.

I later switched to an ASI462MC which with its smaller pixels is a better match for the SCT (without Barlow).  

You definitely need an Atmospheric Dispersion Corrector when the planets are at low altitude, like Saturn at its most recent apparition.

[Kon]

I think your setup is fine. You want to be at 5x the pixel size, so for your camera around f19 so the 2x barlow is right (your 8" SCT is f10).  An ADC will also help with targets that are low. Jupiter and Mars are ok without one for the next apparition assuming you capture when they are high up.

In most cases, it is down to the seeing. The 224 is an excellent camera and the barlow is fine too. The barlow coatings might make a difference when you start doing UV imaging.

If seeing is good, it is worth getting as many videos as you can and derotate them in winjupos as it will help with noise. If seeing is bad, you will not be able to save the session and it will always be a soft image. Collimation is also key to pull the fine details.

 

[Elp]

A TeleVue Powermate gives a marked improvement to a barlow, there's a reason many imagers use them, even for visual you'll see the difference in sharpness and colour control. But I think an adc may give you a more noticeable improvement if your images have colour fringing.

[Kon]

For the price of a powermate, I would get a 715mc as you will be at the correct sampling without  the need for a barlow.