Very close, Leon! A TeleVue Powermate does basically the same job as a barlow, but a Powermate is optically a little more complex and does a very high quality job. Powermates are available in 2.5x and 5x in 1 1.4", and 2x and 4x in 2".
The 5x powermate is great for image scale. It also has the effect that the more distance between the top of the powermate and the CCD focal plane, the more magnification you get (ie: you can get it up to a 6x or 7x powermate).
When you say focal plane, you're refering to the surface of the actual CCD chip... or camera film... or whatever light sensitive material you're using?
Yes, Matt - whatever you're capturing the light onto. It may even be the focal point of an eyepiece if you had a desire to get really high magnification
I have an x5 Powermate and use it less than a handful of times each year on the C9.25 (F10 SCT). The last time I used it was to image the Trapezium (in Orion) a few weeks ago using the Celestron C9.25. It has also come in useful for imaging Sunspots in my Vixen 4 inch f9 refractor, on those rare days of good seeing, with the ToUcam.
The x2.5 Powermate does get a regular workout almost every imaging session, although sometimes, I wish it were x3 or x3.5 for when the seeing is very good.
A TeleVue Powermate does basically the same job as a barlow, but a Powermate is optically a little more complex and does a very high quality job. Powermates are available in 2.5x and 5x in 1 1.4", and 2x and 4x in 2".
