2025-12-26

I received a Svbony SV215 3mm to 8mm Zoom Eyepiece for Christmas this year. This should be a huge help for the Multiple Star Challenge.

I have moved the SV135 21mm to 7mm Zoom Eyepiece to my ST-80 permanently along with the 3x Barlow. That combination will take the ST-80 from 19x to 57x without the Barlow, then from 57x to 171x with the Barlow lens. This simple setup means that to get the full range of magnification out of the ST-80, I only need those two lenses.

I had a small window tonight to test the new SV215. Though the forecast was clear, high winds were expected and clouds were still sailing overhead. Around 8:45pm, I detected a break in the clouds and took the opportunity.

9:06PM

Image

Image-Labeled

The atmospheric turbulence was evident as I was zeroing-in on the target. At 55x with the 13mm I could recognize the star pattern that looks like a “check mark” south of Betelgeuse, but I could not detect the close sibling. Switching to the SV215 at 8mm (~90x) I could just detect a hint of the closer sibling. As I zoomed in the dim and close sibling came into view nicely.

For fun, I pushed the zoom lens all the way to 3mm (238x) which is over the theoretical maximum magnification of the AT102ED, and it still performed well.

I didn’t realize it until I started zooming-in that the SV215 is a parfocal lens. While not perfect, it was nice to only have to make very slight adjustments to my focus between zooming.

The multiple star challenge requires labeling each star in the system. I added a second image where I have annotated the designations using GIMP and will be doing this going forward. I also went back and added labels to OÎŁ 496 from 2025-11-20.