3x Barlow on a Skywatcher 150p?

[JonnyGG]

Hey all after some of your knowledge and wisdom again!

First off thanks for your advise on my first telescope 3 hrs viewing last night and it was amazing!

But my question is

-I have a super 10mm

-Super 25 Wide angle (which I've only really used for setting up the spotter scope)

2x Barlow

After looking at what others use what I'm thinking of getting next are some Plossl's, was wondering if these are worth a buy I'm not looking to spend too much yet on a single eyepiece as I'm not sure which I'd use most. The ones im looking at are the Skywatcher SP Plossl 17mm, 26mm and 32mm?

Also would a 3x Barlow be a worthwhile buy for deep sky, planets and star splitting or is my focal length too low for such magnification? If so perhaps a better quality 2x Barlow than the one included with the 150p would be a good buy?

Sorry for all the questions.

[pvaz]

I'd say 3x would be pushing the limit on you scope too much.

I'll explain my personal tastes and what I use to help you decide. The set of EPs really depends on what you like to observe. I only use 4 of my 7 EPs regularly.

For DSOs:

- The 32mm Wide Field is used 85% of the time when looking for DSOs. It gives a wide nice field of view.

- For small DSOs, like globular clusters, I use a 15mm wide field. I recon if it was a 13mm it would probably give a better mag, for this objects.

(The 20mm and 25mm are in a gray area in between and don't add anything to my observations, they are permanently in the box)

For planets:

- A 9mm for normal seeing conditions.

- A 5mm for good seeing conditions.

My barlow had low quality and added too much light scatter. So I added the 5mm to the collection, instead of upgrading the barlow.

If I ware you I would get a 7-5mm EP for planetary and leave the barlow alone. The University Optics Orthoscopics sell for less then 50£ and are rated as having excellent detail on planets. Though the field of view is small on Orthoscopic design.

If you are into DSOs, add a wide field EP around 30mm or more.

If you don't know what you like, observe more and buy after!

[Jupiter Martin]

I would agree with Paulo the barlow would be pushing it. You can pick up some meade 4000 SP's for around £20 a piece on e-bay. Ive done that myself. If you can afford better then there is a array of EP's and different makes. The skywatchers are around £20 and are a improvement on the standard EP that come with the scope. the meade 4000's are another improvement on the SW's IMHO

[Altomar718]

I have just bought a 3x Barlow for my Skywatcher 150 and tried it but the above comments are right, it was 'pushing it' and no eyepiece with the 3x Barlow would focus.