greeting from 2nd days newbie.

For people new to astronomy who want to ask those questions that they were afraid to ask. Receive helpful answers here.
bern
Posts: 49
Joined: Sun May 27, 2012 10:46 pm
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Location: Bukit Merah

Re: greeting from 2nd days newbie.

Post by bern »

Good morning all,

Just got myself a 2x gso barlow.
What I notice is that the image can't seem to get focus and brightness suffer abit.
On 20mm ep still ok but once on 10mm ep the brightness and focus become poorer.
What can I do to improve it? Pls advise. TIA.
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cloud_cover
Posts: 1170
Joined: Mon Jul 12, 2010 6:08 pm
Favourite scope: 94.5", f/24 Ritchey-Chretien Reflector
Location: Restaurant At the End of the Universe

Re: greeting from 2nd days newbie.

Post by cloud_cover »

Congrats on the purchase! :)
Unless the barlow is severely defective, its unlikely to be the Barlow per se.
The 2 issues you raised are brightness and poor image. With regards to brightness, this is only to be expected because by doubling the magnification, you are also halving the exit pupil. Hence the image must get darker. Generally, the brightness of your barlowed 20mm should be equal to your "naked" 10mm. The barlowed 10mm, of course, will be even darker.
With regards to image quality, a few things are possible. Firstly, you are using an f/10 scope which means that the exit pupil is right at 0.5mm, the minimum recommended size before floaters and irregularities in your own eye become significant. Secondly, at 5mm you are pushing 50x per inch aperture, which is the max recommended for good quality optics. Finally, at 227x significant atmospheric effects can cone into.play, particularly if your target is lower in the sky.
If you want to find out if its the Barlow causing issues or your scope/atmospherics, simply borrow a 5mm eyepiece and see if the image is any different :)
DON'T PANIC
bern
Posts: 49
Joined: Sun May 27, 2012 10:46 pm
Favourite scope: So far none.
Location: Bukit Merah

Re: greeting from 2nd days newbie.

Post by bern »

cloud_cover wrote:Congrats on the purchase! :)
Unless the barlow is severely defective, its unlikely to be the Barlow per se.
The 2 issues you raised are brightness and poor image. With regards to brightness, this is only to be expected because by doubling the magnification, you are also halving the exit pupil. Hence the image must get darker. Generally, the brightness of your barlowed 20mm should be equal to your "naked" 10mm. The barlowed 10mm, of course, will be even darker.
With regards to image quality, a few things are possible. Firstly, you are using an f/10 scope which means that the exit pupil is right at 0.5mm, the minimum recommended size before floaters and irregularities in your own eye become significant. Secondly, at 5mm you are pushing 50x per inch aperture, which is the max recommended for good quality optics. Finally, at 227x significant atmospheric effects can cone into.play, particularly if your target is lower in the sky.
If you want to find out if its the Barlow causing issues or your scope/atmospherics, simply borrow a 5mm eyepiece and see if the image is any different :)

Thanks message well note.
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weixing
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Favourite scope: Vixen R200SS & Celestron 6" F5 Achro Refractor
Location: (Tampines) Earth of Solar System in Orion Arm of Milky Way Galaxy in Local Group Galaxies Cluster

Re: greeting from 2nd days newbie.

Post by weixing »

Hi,
bern wrote:Good morning all,

Just got myself a 2x gso barlow.
What I notice is that the image can't seem to get focus and brightness suffer abit.
On 20mm ep still ok but once on 10mm ep the brightness and focus become poorer.
What can I do to improve it? Pls advise. TIA.
The magnification for the 10mm with 2x barlow is too high for your scope especially for an uncollimated newtonian.

Have a nice day.
Yang Weixing
:mrgreen: "The universe is composed mainly of hydrogen and ignorance." :mrgreen:
bern
Posts: 49
Joined: Sun May 27, 2012 10:46 pm
Favourite scope: So far none.
Location: Bukit Merah

Re: greeting from 2nd days newbie.

Post by bern »

weixing wrote:Hi,
bern wrote:Good morning all,

Just got myself a 2x gso barlow.
What I notice is that the image can't seem to get focus and brightness suffer abit.
On 20mm ep still ok but once on 10mm ep the brightness and focus become poorer.
What can I do to improve it? Pls advise. TIA.
The magnification for the 10mm with 2x barlow is too high for your scope especially for an uncollimated newtonian.

Have a nice day.
talk about collimate, think I need to have it done. my 10mm don't seem to be as shape as my 20mm.
how should I go about with this collimating thing? my scope is only 2 weeks old, should I send it back to Astro Scientific centre to let them have a check?
bern
Posts: 49
Joined: Sun May 27, 2012 10:46 pm
Favourite scope: So far none.
Location: Bukit Merah

Re: greeting from 2nd days newbie.

Post by bern »

Need some help here.

I had send my telescopes into astro scientific to do collimation. but just now I bring down to look at saturn the focus totally worse than before. where else can I go to for collimate my scope?

TIA
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cloud_cover
Posts: 1170
Joined: Mon Jul 12, 2010 6:08 pm
Favourite scope: 94.5", f/24 Ritchey-Chretien Reflector
Location: Restaurant At the End of the Universe

Re: greeting from 2nd days newbie.

Post by cloud_cover »

Hi Bern,
If you had it recollimated at AstroSci, perhaps you might want to bring it back and get them to re do it as well as do an on the spot test?
If not, you can try to ask some of the dob owner for help.
DON'T PANIC
bern
Posts: 49
Joined: Sun May 27, 2012 10:46 pm
Favourite scope: So far none.
Location: Bukit Merah

Re: greeting from 2nd days newbie.

Post by bern »

cloud_cover wrote:Hi Bern,
If you had it recollimated at AstroSci, perhaps you might want to bring it back and get them to re do it as well as do an on the spot test?
If not, you can try to ask some of the dob owner for help.
Ok tomorrow I'll go down and see how again, thanks
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shirox
Posts: 1097
Joined: Fri Nov 05, 2010 12:21 am
Favourite scope: Takahashi FSQ85EDX
Location: Outram

Re: greeting from 2nd days newbie.

Post by shirox »

bern wrote:
weixing wrote:Hi,
bern wrote:Good morning all,

Just got myself a 2x gso barlow.
What I notice is that the image can't seem to get focus and brightness suffer abit.
On 20mm ep still ok but once on 10mm ep the brightness and focus become poorer.
What can I do to improve it? Pls advise. TIA.
The magnification for the 10mm with 2x barlow is too high for your scope especially for an uncollimated newtonian.

Have a nice day.
talk about collimate, think I need to have it done. my 10mm don't seem to be as shape as my 20mm.
how should I go about with this collimating thing? my scope is only 2 weeks old, should I send it back to Astro Scientific centre to let them have a check?
They will probably ask you to do it yourself. Have a search thru the net and you should find yourself with loads of information
**************************************************************
http://eltonastronomy.blogspot.com/

Mersing finally installed some water sink!
bern
Posts: 49
Joined: Sun May 27, 2012 10:46 pm
Favourite scope: So far none.
Location: Bukit Merah

Re: greeting from 2nd days newbie.

Post by bern »

I had send my telescopes back to astro scientific this morning. hope they do a good job this round.

but I don't have the proper tools to do the job myself.
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