meade 4000 series eye piece filter set

[alro]

Hello all,

thanks in advance for any help.

just got meade lx90 acf 8inch goto.

Im just wondering if this ep set would be a good investment for this scope.

i have copied list to reduce leg work!

other ep i have looked at are

antares w70 widescreen

vixen

hyperion

i have no other ep as this is my first telescope.

Each Series 4000 Set Includes 

6.4mm Super Plössl Eyepiece 

9.7mm Super Plössl Eyepiece 

12.4mm Super Plössl Eyepiece 

15mm Super Plössl Eyepiece 

32mm Super Plössl Eyepiece 

40mm Super Plössl Eyepiece 

2x Barlow Lens (#126) 

Hard Carry Case 

Color Filter Set #1 (yellow/red/green/blue)

Moon Filter (nd96)

Again thanks for help. As a complete novice, as yet not even a beginner would ut be worth to get this before getting more expensive ep, when i have a clue what im doing!

I am looking forward to all your help.

[Northern Soul man]

Hi Ya Air - nice scope mate.  All depends what you want to do with the scope - its got quite a long focal length at F10 and is geared towards the Planets and the Moon.  The 4000's are a nice set of Ep's - I still have mine after many years and use them with my 5" Mak and in my Binoviewers - they don't give very wide fields and the shorter focal length Ep's don't have a great deal of Eye relief - you really have to get your eyes in nice and close to see all the field.

The Hyperions are a little more expensive but give very good eye relief - I think about 20mm - so you can place your eye 20mm's away from the eye lens and still see all the field of view.

The SCT scopes all have long focal lengths - so any ep you use will hold quite well regarding the views - its only when you use scopes at F5 and F4 that the ep's need to be of a much better quality - Naglers, the ES 82 and 100 degree range - but as you know these are very expensive - but you only have to but them once and they will last you a lifetime - whichever focal length scope you use wether it be F 10 or F4.

With the SCT your not going to get a really large field of view - maybe around a degree or so - ideal for the Planets and the Moon, but not so good for the open star clusters your going to have to sweep the sky a little to get them all in - even the Double Cluster in Perseus is only going to be a cluster at a time and you'll need to sweep over to the other cluster to see, your not going to get the 2 clusters in the same field of view.

With the Plossl design - its ideal for keeping the object in the centre and letting the mount track - so your not too worried about the edges, this is where, in F5 or F4 scopes you will start to see flared stars and pin cushion abberations.

I have settled with the SCT and really enjoy using it - you can get away with the more cheaper priced Ep's so long as you understand that these Ep's will not do so well in the faster scopes of F5 and F4 - but at F10 they are fine.

Paul.

[alro]

Thanks Paul, a lot of good information there. Really appreciated.

Al

[Northern Soul man]

Nice 1 Al - there are so many different ep's out there that it becomes a minefield - from as little as 20 or so quid to a thousand £ for 1 ep - also your observing conditions will also become a factor - we all have to put up with the light pollution - so I find the Planets and Moon ideal for this - even the brighter DSO's will show a certain amount of detail - but its the light pollution that can make them all but invisible, as you use your scope, you will get to know what sort of magnitudes you can pick out - we have to work our way around this - star clusters such as M36, M37 and M38 in Auriga really work well with the SCT's - nice and compact, M15, M2 very nice - low power you can take in the outer regions, just ramp up the power and they take on wonderful views - spend a little time with them, using averted vision you start to notice points of light - and a great deal of them!!.

Leave the larger open clusters - like the one in the centre of Perseus to binoculars, you can concentrate on the brighter Planetery Nebulae - the snowball, the Eskimo, the Saturn all take more mag than most - they really give you a sense of what the stars have gone through - its only when you increase the mag that the outer detail becomes non - stellar.

Not sure if you have much light pollution to put up with but there's always a work around if you have.  The Ep's are a little bit of an individual taste - the cheaper ones are a starting point - but I still have the Meade 4000's and the Hyperions and not a Nagler in sight!!

Paul.

[GavStar]

I certainly don't practice what I preach but I would suggest only purchasing one or two 'better' eyepieces initially. I think the key thing initially is to just observe rather than worry about swapping eyepieces. As has been said already planets will be great in your scope so I would get one nice planetary eyepiece say 12mm and leave it at that. I think you get a 26mm plossl with the scope so that will give you 77x and 167x which would be good for a nice range of objects.

For the price of the 4000 set you could get 2 vixen slv's (or even one televue Delos as a keeper for life?). Great quality and very comfortable with good eye relief.

Finally if you haven't already you need to think about controlling dew with a few shield and preferably a dew heater.

Gavin

[alro]

Thanks Paul,Gavin

loads of good advice there to keep me busy.

i have also been told to look at this

Revelation eyepiece set, any comments or recommends.

dew shield, heard about that. Is it best to get a wrap around to begin with and heater at a latter date.

i went for 17v power tank, would dew heater just feed from that.

al

[GavStar]

Yes dew shield first but preferably a heater at the same time which can be plugged into your power tank no problem I think

[ronin]

Set appears reasonable, depends on cost, the 6.3mm is a bit too short for the LX. Being f/10 then plossls are going to work fairly well. Cannot think what use the colour filter set is, never used any. The moon filter will be useful on (surprise surprise) the moon, it will lessen a residual image being imprinted on the eye when you cease looking at the moon. Or just wait for the image to fade, takes about 30 seconds but does mean walking round immediatly is not a good idea as you fall over things.

[Dave In Vermont]

At F/10 your scope is well suited for planets in our solar-system, but it's also very good on DSO's (deep-space objects). And if you will be wishing to leave the solar-system, then you would find that eyepieces with wider field of views (FVO), such as Baader Hyperions, will be much appreciated. If you'll be wanting to stay local and only look at planets, then the Meade Plossl's will serve you just fine. I have the 12" LX90, and I do have Plossl's, and I have a full set of Hyperion's and other EP's as well.

Enjoy your 8" LX90 - that's one very fine instrument.

Clear Skies,

Dave

[alro]

Revelation eyepiece / filter set

is this one a good idea?

Plossl 9mm

Plossl 12mm

Plossl 15mm

Plossl 20mm

Plossl 32mm (projection/visual)

Barlow x2

T adaptor

1.25" ND96 Moon Filter

#11 Yellow Green

#25A Red

#47 Violet

#82A Light Blue

[YKSE]

Congrations to a nice scope.

Here's my experience of 8" f10 SCT scope:

1. you have some necessary expense besides the scope: a dew shield, a heater band and heater control (when humidity is over 80%), a finder scope (8x or 9x optical RACI finder is my choice for easy star-hopping), because the smaller Field of View(FOV) of SCT, and the GOTO will not always get a object in the center of FOV.

2. An eyepiece set as you mentioned is more than often waste of money, much better to buy some eyepieces you know you're going to use.

3. I have a set color filters including moon filter, the ONLY one I find of some use is the red filter for splitting the Sirius pup.

4. You may need either get a 2" diagonal or a focal reducer to get wider FOV at larger exit pupil, some extended DSO are easier and better seen in these condition.

My recommendation is Baader Mark III zoom and a 68deg Maxvision 24mm if you're using only 1.25" eyepieces, or the Zoom plus 40mm SW Aero for 2" route. There're many other excellent ideas here:

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/217907-first-eyepiece-upgrade-what-you-wish-you-had-done/page-3?hl=%2Bfirst+%2Bupgrade#entry2362198

[Dave In Vermont]

A dew-shield is a very much needed investment. Such as offered here:

http://www.astrozap.com/Scripts/default.asp

With a SCT, I've never felt the need for a right-angle finder-scope. Just keep the scope at a comfortable height, and looking straight-through the finder works perfectly. As for the colour-filters, these are quite rarely used. The blue 80A filter is good for getting more contrast/details out of Jupiter and Saturn though. Most of us have the set-of-4 coloured filters - most often collecting dust.

Clear & Dark Skies,

Dave

[alro]

Meade Series 5000 Ultra Wide Angle WP Eyepieces

looking at this now, 8.8mm or 14mm cant decide, any advice.?

[Northern Soul man]

Hi Al, I think that the 14mm will get much more use than the 8.8 - its probably at the limit the skies will allow - nothing wrong though - its just going to push a lot of mag for our mediocre skies at best - but there are nights where you may be able to use it without loosing image clarity, the moon will be nice though.

Paul.

[alro]

Paul

So 14.4 is best then

if i get a barlow eventually, that will make this a 7.2?

thanks

[Northern Soul man]

Yes mate and you will still retain the eye relief of the 14mm so you'll win all round.

[alro]

Sounds the best way ahead. Thanks. So for my scope, this should give me fantastic moon view

[Northern Soul man]

Hi Al, yes the 14mm wil give you around x 142 mag - so nice and close on the Luna features, craters rilles and mountain ranges all within the limit of the 14mm Ep, If you barlow it, it will give you an effective magnification of x 284 - really high power here to get into the individual craters - as the Moon is so close and bright, the nearly x 300 mag will hold up really well, you may begin to see the "shimmering" and "shaking" of the turbulent atmosphere at this power and it may be a little too high for the planets, I find the optimum power in my 11" scope is around the lower x 200's, but being able to increase to a 10mm  (x280) Ep on the better nights, its only until you have the Ep's that you get the feel for the amount of power you can use on any given night, its not just about trying higher powers, but the position of the object in the sky and local seeing conditions all have to be factored in - not saying you can ramp up the power on the Moon - it becomes amazing at high powers.

There's no hard and fast rule when it comes to Ep power and choice - that's what adds to the hobby - its all about trial and error.

Paul.

[alro]

Thanks again paul.

with regards to a barlow, am i best with a meade x2 one or can you recommend anything.

[alro]

Meade #127 2x - 3x Variable Barlow Lens 1.25

Is it best to go for this, the variable barlow or #126 x2 meade ?

[Northern Soul man]

Hi Al, I have 2 Barlows, the Meade 1.25 "shorty" Barlow which I use with my webcam, It works very well and its one of the shorter ones which means it doesn't stick out of the diagonal too much - so its probably more low profile than the others on offer.  I find that with my other Barlow - its a 2" ED Revelation Barlow, It sticks quite a way out of the diagonal, this with a 2" EP makes for quite a large protrusion from the diagonal.

The revelation Barlow is nicely made for its price, but, being 2", it sticks out of the diagonal quite a way, The Meade "shorty" Barlow is nice and small and doesn't add much to the protrusion out of the diagonal.

Both are priced similarly, so probably equally as good, the 2" better for the larger 2" EP's.

There are different price brackets for the Barlows, ranging from around £20 to well over the hundreds - so I think it comes down to choice - but as we all say "you only get what you pay for" this rings true for all astronomical purchases with different price brackets, you have the Revelation/Meade/Orion/Synta at around the entry level, working your way up to the TeleVue Barlows/Powermates - but I think with the Televue - your getting real quality at a real price.

[alro]

Loads of good advice, thanks.

just been looking at prices, ballpark 35ish for x2,

47 for variable x2 through x2.5 to x3, would this be a better choice that the shorty.

is shorty the meade 126?

[Northern Soul man]

Hi Al, yes its the 126 - have you got any Ep's at the moment?

[alro]

Not yet, im looking at getting meade 5000 series uw 14mm or antares w70.

and a 40 or 32 mm plossl at the other end afterwards.

at the moment i have ep that came with telescope. 26mm plossl.

[Northern Soul man]

Nice 1 Al, you could probably Barlow the 26mm to give you a nice effective 13mm (x154) with a x2 or around a 10mm (x200)with a x2.5 barlow - probably at the limit of the skies, but Jupiter will be much better in a couple of months getting towards opposition at a reasonable hour so the 26mm will be nice on the Moon for now - the Plossl's work well on the planets - with the added Barlow, this will give you an couple of powers to start with, the 26mm together with an accurate alignment will give nice views of some of the Messier's that are visible around now.

Paul.