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Thanks Dave. Two seasoned observers independantly commented this and I saw for myself with one of their scopes that it was an obvious difference in seeing the central star, the second commented over the phone just the other day so I figured I'd ask around here and see what others may have noticed.

If one has an eyepiece to reach a certain magnification I would guess they may not be likely to use a barlow, if they have one at all. I don't have one as it does not work with a Paracorr.

Anybody have any ideas on how an improvement in seeing a central star of a Planetary Neb when using a barlow/eyepiece over an eyepiece alone, given the same or similar magnification? I don't know what optics were used since they were not mine, but surely both these guys don't have the same eyepieces or same type of barlow.

Any input is appreciated....
Steven

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Well, there might be something going on with the coatings, as they tend to be more efficient when light is coming in more towards normal incidence. There also might be some light scatter issues, but other than this, I don't quite know what would cause such a difference. I will have to check on this in a couple of weeks at NSP and try some different setups to see when this kind of behavior happens. That might give some idea of what is really going on. Clear skies to you.

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David W. Knisely
Hyde Memorial Observatory
http://www.hydeobservatory.info

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