[masraum]

Originally Posted by Superman

So.....some weeks ago Steve (masraun) generously gifted me a 2x Barlow lens (he didn't even let me pay postage), and I think I should report back:

First, a public shout-out to Steve and a thank you.

This time of year, the sky is almost always cloudy/foggy but I have had a couple of chances to get outside. First, it appears the planets are all hiding around the Sun right now. This will change of course. AFAIK, planets are virtually the only things of interest when using a cheap, wimpy telescope like my 102mm refractor. Otherwise, there are twinkling stars I suppose. Looking forward to getting to the other side of the Sun.

One thing I did notice is that, particularly with the additional 2x magnification, stuff moves out of view somewhat quickly. I imagine you guys have devices that allow your scopes to track objects and hold them in view.

Do you feel like you're getting stuff in focus? I know you were concerned that you were not before. I'm hoping you just didn't have enough magnification.

This is a great, free app for helping to find stuff or plan out things to look at.

https://stellarium.org/

You'll have to get the location set to close to your physical location (nearest big city is probably good enough). You can zoom in and out, ctrl-f to find things, click on things that look interesting and it'll give you the info.

Yes, as you increase your magnification, stuff moves out of frame faster and faster. My first scope was similar to yours (f/5 102mm) and I was using it on a photo tripod, so yeah, you've got to move the thing around manually. My next scope was an 8" "Dob" (Netwonian reflector on a Dobsonian mount). It was capable of much higher magnification and it was also completely manual. Yes, my current scope is computerized and will track objects which is pretty freakin' awesome.

But I did enjoy my years of manually finding stuff by star hopping and then manually tracking.

I did once, at low power, manage to find and track ISS. It was very cool and really tough, even at low power (probably ~50x) I was able to see structure and color.