EP Advice, have requirements and budget

[johnb]

Hi

I have the Skywatcher Explorer 250 OTA with the Skywatcher EQ6 Pro SynScan. It came with

A Super 25mm Widefield, a Super 10mm and a 2 x Barlow and with theses EP’s I can clearly see the nebulosity in say M42 ( never tire of looking at that) and using my Philips spc900nc I can image the moon with reasonable success both with and without the Barlow, Mars was so hard as it was just so small, I think its time now to look at upgrading my EP collection but really am not sure were to start, so my requirements

1 – Continued Visual Astronomy (but always want more detail)

2 – Imaging of the Solar system so I assume I need some more Barlow’s ?

3 – Visually observing the moon hurts my eyes so a moon filter as well

4 – Recognising that in some ways you get what you pay for with regards to quality and the fact that this is my hobby from which I get so much pleasure Ive set a budget 500 Pounds

So pointer appreciated.

Regards

John Berman

[arad85]

Have to say I'd go the Skywatcher Nirvana route with that sort of money. But then I love widefields... Or jump right in and start an Ethos collection........ A 13mm Ethos will fit what your 25mm does for field of view, but double the magnification..... And with a decent Barlow will act as a 6.25mm eyepiece. I love mine and am so glad I bought it. In fact, I only use 2 eyepieces and 1 Barlow for everything - the other 3 don't get used at all....

As to Barlows for imaging, you'd probably be OK with another 2x - say a TAL or if you wanted premium a Celestron Ultima or one of the Televues.... Personally, if I was investing a lot in eyepieces, I'd want a premium Barlow underneath it...