First Saturn (for 30 years)

[pook]

I once saw saturn through a 3 inch cheap spherical newt when I was 12. It was an amazing sight... but last night I trained my 6" newt on it, and wow.. it was small (10mm + 2x Barlow = 150x) but could see the main equatorial belt, and the shadow of the rings on the surface.

I could also see 2 moons.

It was very low in a light polluted sky, and there was a light haze, so I can't wait for this to get higher in the sky!

Would it be worth buying a higher quality EP and barlow for my scope or would I not gain much?

[Davidv]

Hi Pook,

I can't answer your question directly - I have enough trouble making my own mind up about what I should get. You're right, though, x150 on Saturn is a power where the image is not quite as big as you'd like. I've always found x175 to be just big enough and x200 is nice. Sky at Night magazine recently did some reviews of eyepieces and there must be plenty on this forum to help you decide. Dave.

[Nexus 6]

Hi Pook, I would try a better ep without the barlow, maybe something like a Televue Radian a very highly regarded ep but a bit pricey, currently around £140, with a fl of 750mm on your scope you could go for a 4mm giving you 187x a decent enough high power for observing the Moon and planets and close to the usual max mag of around 200x for the uk on most nights.

A slightly cheaper alternative but again highly rated would be something like a Baader Hyperion, around £100, a 3.5mm would give 214x.

For Saturn you don't have to worry about the lp you have but for observing dso's it would be worth trying a lp filter to cut some of it out, maybe you could visit a local astro society, they would probably let you try one and a couple of ep's.

Good luck with whatever you decide to buy