What's the highest magnification you've used?

[§AB]

and it has to be useful magnification, i.e. getting a reasonable image.

One night of very good seeing I got to 750x on the Tarantula nebula (surprisingly crisp resolution of stars at the core) and 625x on various planetaries and 47 Tuc using my 10" dob. I also used 500x and 714x to resolve the Sirius Pup.

Most nights however I can't go past around 300-350x, and on one night I couldn't even use 69x

[higginsdj]

I got to 750x on my 14" once when observing Mars during it's closest approach some years ago. Now that was a night of phenominal seeing....

[edwardsdj (Doug)]

I can occasionally get to 425x with my 8" SCT. My 4.7mm eyepiece is the shortest I've got and the conditions must be exceptional for me to use it. Sometimes the view is so clear at 425x though that I'm sure I could go higher.

From inner Brisbane, 200x is usually my practical limit.

[vash (Ashley)]

The most I've done was 485x while drift aligning one time. I also used that to pec train the mount,

[Outbackmanyep]

The highest i would go with my 8" SCT is 333x (6mm), i use a 9mm Illuminated reticle to drift align, anything above 9mm i lose resolution around planets, i don't do too much visual stuff. The 6mm is a GSO plossl, i think i would need a better quality eyepiece to have any chance of "seeing" things i wouldn't normally get to see!
I sometimes use my X-Cel 12.5mm with 2x Ultima Barlow.
I would like to see a few eyepieces in action though before purchasing a better eyepiece!

[§AB]

just a few nights ago was pulling 625x on NGC 1535, showing a nice crisp central star and some detail within the nebula's inner regions. Seeing was good, but not truly excellent. I think 800x might be within reason on a perfect night.

Saturn is too poorly placed to use anything above 200x, and 156x seems to work the best.

Can't wait till Jupiter starts riding the zenith come winter

[Ric]

I got up to around the 400x mark using a 2x Barlow but the sky conditions have to be so perfect that it only happens a few times a year and usually in the early hours of a mid winter morning, -5 or better.

Cheers

[timewarp]

Hi guys as a new user can you quickly explain to me how you calculate the level of magnification? Our telescope is 8". thanks

[§AB]

Divide the focal length of your telescope by the focal length of the eyepiece.

For example, if your scope has a 1200mm focal length and the eyepiece has a 10mm focal length, you divide 1200 by 10:

1200 / 10 = 120x

[xelasnave]

I had the refractor 1200 f/l with 2 3x barlows and a 2x barlow (8x allup I guess) photographing ants up a tree with the LPI and I was astounded that I got reasonable photos The lpi is like using a 6mm ep but I never tried that set up on stars (to resolve a double) etc
alex

[ausastronomer (John Bambury)]

I have had the 18" Obsession to 1050X on the moon on a couple of occasions, under exceptional seeing conditions. This is with a 5mm Pentax XW in the 2.5X TV powermate. When conditions are good I often use 750X on the moon and on many DSO's. eg Homunculus, Ghost of Jupiter. This is with a 7mm Pentax XW in the 2.5X powermate.

Cheers,
John B

[§AB]

I have yet to get anything decent above 200-250x on the Homunculus.

Highest mag I got under my belt is 1071x but I doubt I'll ever use that even on the moon regardless of how spectacular the seeing is!

[Astro78]

I'm amazed you guys can get up so high!

Max. on the setup here is x250 with a 4mm Vixen but the EQ5 on a wooden deck might explain my limits.

[caleb]

do u think it is possible to put two 2X barlows together to make it a 4X barlow

[hector (Andrew)]

Seriously use 725x in a 20" f5 on nights of good seeing to look at Planetaries, Planets and FAINT globulars.
For the fun of doing it 1500x looking at Alpha Cent. It was a fun night and watching the individual stars zooming thru the eyepiece was different.