Only one eyepiece, which one would it be?

[roby]

Hi Everybody, first post, be gentle with me.

My fabulous girlfiriend has brought me a SW skytravel 80mm scope on an EQ1, and I love it! (shame about the weather of course) she now wants to buy me something for the scope, an accessory. So I think an eyepiece would be in order, but which one, the choice is bewildering.

I have the 2 EP's that come with the scope (10mm and 25mm supers) but need a little advice as to what to go for as a suitable additon and the start of a collection. I would like one in the £20-£40 range, and something that suits the scope. I am edging towards a wide-field type as I love the idea of scanning starfields and perhaps a little wide-field photography later on.

So any help/advice/recomendations would be of great help.

thanks in advance

Rob

[ronin]

For £20-40 that really means a plossl and the obvious one is the Vixen NPL at £30 or £40.

They do a 25mm, 30mm and 40mm. Since you have a 25mm that leaves 30mm or 40mm. Both will have a similar field of view so the 30mm seems sensible

The 30mm and 40mm are both £40 from FLO.

[nightfisher]

Look at the GSO/Revelation 32mm plossl, this should give superb wide field panning views, about £30

[spaceboy]

Only one eyepiece, which one would it be?

I'd get a zoom EP. http://www.acecameras.co.uk/asp/web/ph/cat/prodtype/1360/prodtype.asp At least this way you can figure out which magnifications work best and you can always upgrade at a later date.

[RikM]

My favourite EP in the ST80 is 14mm 70° aFOV. This gives 29x magnification and almost 2.5° true field.

[russ.will]

For £20-40 that really means a plossl and the obvious one is the Vixen NPL at £30 or £40.

They do a 25mm, 30mm and 40mm. Since you have a 25mm that leaves 30mm or 40mm. Both will have a similar field of view so the 30mm seems sensible

The 30mm and 40mm are both £40 from FLO.

I'd steer clear of 40mm in 1.25" - It can only have a 40deg FOV. It's like looking down a toilet roll.

Russell

[John]

A 30/32mm plossl like the Vixen NPL or the GSO would play to the ST80's strengths as a wide field scope. As Russell says, a 40mm will show not more sky and has a rather constricted apparent field of view.

A 24mm super wide angle would show nearly as much sky as a 32mm plossl and the extra magnification would darken the background sky a bit but I don't think there is a decent one in your price range.

[Adz]

I would vote for Spaceboys recommendation of that practical zoom to base your further purchases from. The zooms normally perform better than people expect for something that adds so much practibility

[roby]

Thanks for the great advice everybody; taking on-board the toilet roll analogy, I am edging towards the GSO 32mm super plossl, although I am now paranoid about toilet roll eyepieces!

cheers Rob

[LukeSkywatcher]

The 32mm GSO is an absolute corker of an EP. It only has a 50 degree AFOV but it feels wider. Definitely my favourite EP ever used.

As other say..................steer clear of EP's that only have 40 degrees AFOV. Horrible view looking down the toilet roll.

[WayBig]

Personally I wouldn't want anything longer than 25mm in your scope (it is the 400mm focal length isn't it?).

So I would possibly upgrade the 25mm to a bst explorer 25mm, or go to the other end of the scale and get an eyepiece suited to planetary or high power lunar viewing - granted it's not the speciality of your scope, but you're not going to be able to resist a peek at saturn are you. So you could look at a 4mm ish tmb planetary clone, or possibly a 7mm ish one that could be barlowed.

[Doug]

Hi Rob

IMHO I would recommend a Meade series 32mm super Plossl eyepiece 1.25"

it has a 52*FOV and will give you are great view at £46.00 well worth the £6.00 and that is the new price ,you could always look on the second hand market

Doug

[RikM]

Personally I wouldn't want anything longer than 25mm in your scope (it is the 400mm focal length isn't it?).

I agree with this. Even a wide angle 20mm isn't enough magnification to get much detail on anything. e.g. M36, 37, 38 all look better with that little bit more magnification.

[russ.will]

Thanks for the great advice everybody; taking on-board the toilet roll analogy, I am edging towards the GSO 32mm super plossl, although I am now paranoid about toilet roll eyepieces!

cheers Rob

It's just a limitation imposed by the maximum field stop allowed by a 1.25" eyepiece. At 40mm, magnification is low, which means the subject matter is small, but due to the field stop restriction, you can't have a wide field of view to give you a panoramic view. Hence, it's like looking down a bog roll at a detailed, but very small image.

The GSO 32mm plossl is a good suggestion, but a BST Explorer/Starguider 25mm (£47) with it's wider FOV, plus a bit more magnification to darken the sky, will work well too. It wasn't happy in my 200mm F5 Newtonian, but seems to work well in the ST80 that I've kept as my grab 'n' go/holiday scope.

Russell

[roby]

Thanks everyone! i have ordered (via girlfriend) the GSO 32mm. I appreciate ALL the great advice, eyepieces are a minefield!!

I am a beginner so expect more stupid questions, like this one; Another friend wants to buy me a another item for my telescope (its my birthday BTW, its not that I am showered with gifts everyday from my friends) So I am thinking another EP, my scope, the SW ST80 comes with a 10mm a 25mm and soon I will have the 32mm, so should I go with an 8mm plossel? something for close-up planetary or is that crazy talk with a scope like mine, or filters for the 32mm or another vital accessory that I don't know that I need yet?

As usual, any advice hugely appreciated

cheers

Rob