TheMooseZeus Posted July 31, 2018 Hey! I'm looking at getting a new lens for my 10" Dobsonian. The 5mm lens im looking at doesn't reach the maximum magnification (by 260) i can get and with the 3x barlow lens it exceeds it (by 220) The 2.3mm lens ever so slightly exceeds the max magnification (by 23x) and obviously shouldn't be used with the 3x barlow lens. I think i will invest in a 2x barlow lens and go with the 5mm lens i just wanted an opinion on how drastic the change in image quality would be if i exceeded the magnification by 23x -Thanks so much! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
withdrawl clinic Posted August 23, 2018 hi! I understand that this forum is a great place to ask questions, but why didn't you search the net, for an answer for your question? anyway, people and the net say, that for every inch of your mirror, you might can use 25 times, in short a 10 inch mirror, might be able to use a lens magnifying 250 times. I don't understand your post entirely, but I tell you that 250 times would be not good for you, as the mounting of your telescope would not be good enough, to be steady using 250X. as well the image gets very blury, with such magnifications. I have used a 10 inch dobsion, and maybe around mag 60 is what, most experts would say is good for such mirror. believe me, most average cost telescopes, work best with lower mag, than with higher, even if you look at the moon or planets!! for nebula and comets and clusters, allways use a low mag! if you dived 250mm (your mirror) by say 125 (your magnification) to make it easy, you get a 2mm circumference image, I would not go any smaller. the field of view gets so small, it's unpractical, understand? 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TheMooseZeus Posted August 23, 2018 5 hours ago, withdrawl clinic said: hi! I understand that this forum is a great place to ask questions, but why didn't you search the net, for an answer for your question? anyway, people and the net say, that for every inch of your mirror, you might can use 25 times, in short a 10 inch mirror, might be able to use a lens magnifying 250 times. I don't understand your post entirely, but I tell you that 250 times would be not good for you, as the mounting of your telescope would not be good enough, to be steady using 250X. as well the image gets very blury, with such magnifications. I have used a 10 inch dobsion, and maybe around mag 60 is what, most experts would say is good for such mirror. believe me, most average cost telescopes, work best with lower mag, than with higher, even if you look at the moon or planets!! for nebula and comets and clusters, allways use a low mag! if you dived 250mm (your mirror) by say 125 (your magnification) to make it easy, you get a 2mm circumference image, I would not go any smaller. the field of view gets so small, it's unpractical, understand? I gotcha, I asked here and soon after found an astronomy facebook group to ask I've been using the 5mm lens for planetary viewing and it is great, so clear. I do need to get my hands on some coloured filters to make the colours pop a little better and to darken the image. the 5mm and the 2x Barlow is way to zoomed in and very quickly moves out of sight too. What would you recommend for nebular viewing? - Thanks for your help! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
withdrawl clinic Posted August 24, 2018 hi! excited to know there are other stargazers here on sab. my approach to astronomy, is very similar to how I do my gardening as well, meaning I do everything low cost. I've never used filters, apart from a sun filter, so I can't help with your question. what I use for nebulae is my binoculars 7x42 swarowski. your mount is not parallactic, and you have no computer on the telescope to find, the object for you, so nebula are hard to find, by the traditional methode, of the star ladder. I love the old school star ladder system, as it teaches you real skills, and after a while, you will find the objects, with ease, whilst, people using the computer system, never will know where the objects are located. just to make you jellous, I have observed a 10.000 shooting stars per hour leonide storm, and have seen many comets, astronomy is an awesome hobby! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TheMooseZeus Posted August 25, 2018 I'd never even thought about stargazing with binoculars, thats amazing. And yes! I am very Jealous, thats also amazing. Damn. I'll look at maybe a wider 30-40mm lens. I might even look at getting a 2" lens? I'll do more research. As for low cost, that's fair enough. I sometimes treat myself to gifts/ ask for something as a gift on an occasion. How does the sun filter perform? I was looking at making one myself with solar paper. It would be sweet to see sun spots Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
withdrawl clinic Posted August 25, 2018 binoculars come in an extreme wide range, from small to very big, the aperture going from 20mm to 150mm approximately. the big ones get very heavy, and need a proper mount. using the 7x42 let's say on andromeda, naturaly it doesn't compare with any photos of a big telescope, but seeing it for yourself very small and fuzzy is better than, a big image on a pic. hmm, probably you can't see andromeda from nsw, I forgot... the night sky is mostly very good in oz, and if you can see the milky way, you can as well detect, many galaxies and starclusters, by naked eye. once spotted naked, I than get the binoculars in action. I tell you a trick, if a faint object, is in the middle of your field of view, they are harder to notice than, if you slightly look away. this was explained to me, happens because, our eyes are more light sensitive at phervicial(dyslexia) vision. please don't mess with making a sun filter, it's far too dangerous, buy one, or project the image of the sun to a white piece of paper, to be save. astromoners are a friendly bunch, like gardeners, the love sharing info, and inspiring the next generation. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TheMooseZeus Posted August 26, 2018 Pretty sure you can't see it in NSW :/ I've seen the orion nebular a few times, never in great detail though. I've seen purple clouds which obviously have depth. It's hard to share with a phone camera but i'll attach a picture. When you can see the milky way, the best way to spend a night with a telescope is just scanning the stars with the widest lens... Its incredible. I can understand why making a sun filter would be so dangerous and now that i think about it, any errors would be pretty disastrous. And yeah, there are more rods around our retina then in the centre which are better suited for detecting light, though less colour. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
