Just bought a Celestron StarSense Explorer DX 130AZ for my son. What is the best lens to use for viewing planets? What are some easy tips for him, to help explorer his passion? He has the 25mm and the 10mm lens that came with it. I also bought him the Celestron 8mm-24mm lens. Any advise would be greatly appreciated..... Also, what would he need to be able to take pictures of things he is looking at? Or is this even possible with this telescope?
Asked
Active
Viewed 311 times
3
-
One thing you can do is to check previous amateur-observing questions or search for specific keywords. There are several other different but similar questions here about trying to see the planets. People are often disappointed when they first see the limitations that the Earth's atmosphere causes. See this answer to What should I look for in a first telescope for a child? for example. For astrophotography look for a good quality adapter for a DLSR body. – uhoh Dec 26 '21 at 09:00
-
See also this answer to New to Astrophotography At 650 mm focal length planets will be pretty small on a DLSR camera's sensor so not many pixels, but a Barlow lens can help there. Hopefully additional answers will be posted by experienced astrophotographers that address your question or link to previous well-answered astrophotography questions. Also check out the astrophotography tag in Photography SE – uhoh Dec 26 '21 at 09:03
-
For astrophotography if there is some interest in computer processing (using free software or writing your own) then read further about lucky imaging which can give you images with better resolution than what you see through the eyepiece if you have enough data. – uhoh Dec 26 '21 at 09:15
1 Answers
2
For viewing Planets, the lens you have itself is more than enough, if you can, buy a 2x Barlow lens to unveil the real power of your telescope (don't go more than 2x), yes you can capture great images, if you have a DSLR or removable lens camera, you can attach it to the telescope by buying a T-Ring that suits your Camera, some also comes with the Barlow as well. You can also buy a smartphone adapter from the Manufacturer itself, Take a look at this. Happy Star Gazing !
Kavin Ishwaran
- 2,640
- 1
- 8
- 38
-
Thank you Kavin, for your input. I bought a smartphone adapter for him as well, just have to figure out how to put it on. HAHA. I looked at my Canon and Nikon cameras and neither of them have the removable lens. :( I WISH they did though. So we are going to use his phone to find what he wants to look at and my phone for pictures. I will also look into getting him the Barlow lens. I'd like to help him explorer his passion without dropping a ton of $$ into it, just in case he loses interest. But so far, from what he's seen, I don't think he will lose interest. – SSmith3 Dec 26 '21 at 04:53
-
1That's Cool !. No problem if your camera doesnt have a removable lens there are adapters for attaching it to the eyepiece !. – Kavin Ishwaran Dec 26 '21 at 05:18
-
1I tried to use the extra smartphone adapter for taking pictures, and that was a bust. :( couldn't see anything. I saw a video of an adapter but can't find the video again. What would be a good adapter, or good to connect my cannon so we can get some amazing pictures? We actually just got in from star gazing (spent 3 hours outside playing with the telescope). – SSmith3 Dec 26 '21 at 07:53