Trouble getting Barlow Lens to focus......

[twin-kle1007]

Hi,

I'm completely new to the whole stargazing thing. I have a Celestron Astromaster 130 and am quite impressed with what I've seen so far.

I bought a Barlow 2x lens to use with my 20mm & 10mm epc's. I'm fitting it correctly but can't manage to focus fully. For example when looking at the moon, it's a fuzzy bright light and it seems as though it's zoomed in too far but no matter how I alter the focus, it never clears completely.

Any ideas?????

Many thanks !!!

[kniclander]

the barlow will push the focal point out so you might need an extension tube. also, if you're barlowing a 10mm e/p it might be a little too much mag for the scope. hth.

[Rusty Strings]

The way to find out if you need an extension tube is to rack the focuser out until it stops then loosen the eyepiece and slowly pull it out whilst still looking at the image and see if it comes more it focus. If it does, do the same thing with the barlow, if you are approaching focus then you do need an extension tube. Taking this test a stage further, you could remove the eyepiece from the barlow, keeping it in line with the focal plane, when it comes into focus, hold the eyepiece VERY steady, measure the distance between and the barlow, this should give a fair idea how long the extension tube needs to be.

[Moonshane]

if the barlow has a long barrel (many do) then could you just pull this out a little until focused?

I have not used a barlow for so long I cannot recall if this would work.

[Doc]

I would imagine the seeing was just to bad to take the higher magnification.

[great_bear]

I would imagine the seeing was just to bad to take the higher magnification.

Unlikely - you should be able to get 130x without atmosphere taking its toll