Extras

[phattanglo]

I have had my Explorer 150p for about a month and on the few clear nights we've had I've enjoyed some brief but rewarding sessions.

My intention is to concentrate on observing and familiarising myself with the night sky rather than including any imaging as it's still early days yet.

I have made a couple of small changes to my set up consisting of the replacement of the std SW 25mm & 10mm eyepieces with Meade 4000 26mm & 9.7mm.

This has certainly helped optically as to my eyes there is a marked difference in the quality of the view.

I have found the replacement of the finder with a RDF has also helped in the rather murky skies in my area .

I would appreciate the benefit of your experience on my intended future purchases and whether they would be worthwhile for a general observing setup.

A better quality 2X Barlow

A single or dual axis drive.

A wider field eyepiece eg 32mm.

A planetary eyepiece, or a 3X Barlow. I would estimate 200X to 250X as a maximum realistic magnification.

Is a polar scope essential or just useful?.

[acey]

I've had the TeleVue 32mm Plossl for years and still love it. If you want super/ultra-wide then pay a lot more.

For a long time I used the TeleVue 8mm Plossl as my planetary eyepiece and loved that too - in my 8-inch scope I never felt the need to go to higher power. Great contrast on planets.

Recently I got the TMB Planetary 6mm and it gives comparable performance with a wider apparent field - great for my 12-inch.

When I started out I got a Meade apo barlow. I very rarely use it. Barlows make things look bigger but don't show any more detail - for that you need another eyepiece.

[david o]

Warning, I'm still a newbie and also a bit of an EP junkie !

But this is what I'd do.

First, depending on your budget, get either a TAL or Celestron Ultima 2x Barlow.

Then, sticking with the series 4000 Plössls you seem to favour, a 32mm - followed by the 6.4mm.

This would give a nice range of magnifications and true Field of Views with your scope - () = Barlowed:

EP fl. Mag. tFoV

32mm 23x 2.22º

26mm 29x 1.8º

(16mm) 47x 1.11º

(13mm) 58x 0.9º

9.7mm 77x 0.67º

6.4mm 117x 0.44º

(4.9mm) 155x 0.34º

(3.2mm) 234x 0.22º

Later on, if you hunger after an even wider FoV I'd suggest a cheapish 2" diagonal (like this one) and a Meade s4000 QX 30mm. Or, for even more, the Revelation SV 42mm. (I have both of these and love them !)

EP fl. Mag. tFoV

42mm 18x 3.64º

30mm 25x 2.8º

I'd leave the drive(s) and polar scope for later. To my mind they're more useful for imaging and for that you probably wouldn't want to use your current mount. Buy them specifically for the mount that you intend to image with.

Just my two penn'orth.

[phattanglo]

Cheers for that David, I've found anything bigger than a 32mm eyepiece and I can see the secondary mirror.

I had considered a 2" widefield eyepiece to increase the fov as some fellow SGLers recommended some budget designs which seem quite decent for not much more than a 1.25" 32mm.

In truth I'm quite happy with my binoculars for widefield observing for now, so I think it likely the planetary eyepiece and then a better Barlow will be my next purchases and as you say I'm happy with the Meade 4000's so the 6.4mm sounds worth investigating.

[david o]

No probs.

I've also just realized that you wouldn't need a diagonal on a Newt... Dohh !! Must remember, put brain in gear before posting .