BARLOW OR EXTRA E/P ?

[rory]

hi all. ive had myf/10 90mm refactor for around a month now,and im thinking of giving myself more viewing options.

cuurently have a 10mm and a 20mm e/p. giving x100 and x 50.

now should i get another e/p ,maybe a 6mm for planets and moon. or a 32mm for a wider view,as my finder is pretty rubbish.

or would i be best off getting a barlow ?

thanks for any advice to a useless astronomer:icon_confused:

[Capricorn]

My preference would be for an eyepiece. Usually the ones supplied with a scope are not great and even if the barlow is good the eyepieces would still limit what you could see.

A decent eyepiece could make your views a lot better, even if much the same as the ones you have.

On the basis that another eyepiece whould help indicate how good or bad the present ones are I would opt for an eyepiece.

It is really a case of finding out what is the best way to improve things, or another aspect is to remove the worst aspects.

Which eyepiece? I would think of a 12-15mm, which would later if added to a barlow give a shorter equivalent for magnification. If impatient then an 8mm for the magnification now.

Depends on the budget of course. TV do a nice plossl at 8mm and there seems to be offers at this time.

[John]

A 6mm would give a useful highest power in your scope of 150x. The 32mm would be good too but at the other end of the scale for low power viewing. You would have a nice 4 eyepiece set then. A 32mm plossl would work fine. For the 6mm I'd recommend one of the TMB planetary eyepieces (around £40) as they have comfortable eye relief and a decent sized eye lens to look into.

[SiriusB]

I think a 32 & 6mm ep would be a much better bet than a barlow, which would only give you the additional magnification of 180x with your current ep's. & i doubt you'd use this mag very often.

Also think about upgrading your finder at some point- a finder you are happy using is highly desirable, & makes finding things soo much easier.

[rory]

I think a 32 & 6mm ep would be a much better bet than a barlow, which would only give you the additional magnification of 180x with your current ep's. & i doubt you'd use this mag very often.

Also think about upgrading your finder at some point- a finder you are happy using is highly desirable, & makes finding things soo much easier.

thanks, yes the finder is an issue im going to sort soon. the current one that was with the scope is pretty drab. you turn the red dot switch on and all it does is blind the view completely:icon_confused:.

im going to put a 32mm and a 6mm on my list then ,thanks all