Two things to look for: A) Jupiter and Saturn looking washed out and B) Stars looking like formless blobs, or bizarre shapes due to aberrations, instead of tight points (or regular figures of diffraction). See if you can borrow a zoom eyepiece and a barlow, and explore the 3mm. It's the combination of small aperture, steep focal ratio (it's only F/4 which is very aggressive) and cheap optics that are not friendly to high mags - you'll get plenty of aberrations and a washed out image. OTOH, I have my doubts that this scope will do well at such a high magnification. So either the 6mm with a 3x barlow, or a plain 2mm eyepiece (assuming you could afford one) would be more than enough. Theory says that a 2mm eyepiece will provide 225x magnification, or a 0.5m exit pupil - both are the maximum (and minimum) theoretical values for an ideal scope with these parameters. The scope has 114mm of aperture, and an F/4 focal ratio, with parabolic primary 450mm focal length. There are many collimation techniques, this is worth spending the time learning.Īnyway, let's talk accessories if you like. That will make a large difference in performance. I know it's customary for most new users to just "get a barlow", but often that doesn't make a lot of sense.īefore you get any accessories, make sure the scope is very well collimated. It's a very aggressive F/4 that is hard on the eyepiece. This is a small scope, the design cuts quite a few corners, there's not much room for improvement via accessories. I don't think splurging on accessories is the best strategy in this case. By the way, the "Shorty Plus" is twice as good as the "Shorty"! Any more magnification than 75x would be "empty magnification." For the same reason, I wouldn't recommend a Barlow. There isn't much to look at that requires a wider field of view than the 17mm, and the 6mm is about as high as you can go with a 4.5" telescope. The supplied eyepieces are a good match for this telescope.The best ones are made by Jim Kendrick using Baader AstroSolar film, better optically than Orion's glass filters: My favourite is the Sky & Telescope Pocket Sky Atlas (Sky). Orion Scenix 10x50s are excellent, and are currently on sale. I use my 10x50s as much as I use my telescope. Useful in themselves, but also excellent to scout a new part of the sky before exploring with the telescope. This is by far the best beginner's book on astronomy, and contains an excellent set of star charts for finding objects in the night sky.
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