Wide eyepiece for nebula on 200P - suggestions wanted please

[Double Star]

As a noob, I have been scanning around for the Rosette, Heart and Soul Nebulae (among others), not realising that even with the supplied 25mm eyepiece on my Skywatcher 200p dob, the 48x is putting the edges of those nebulae beyond the FOV.  Using Stellarium and an online FOV calculator, it looks like even a 40mm EP would be pushing it, to enclose their edges on the 200P.

What would you recommend please, and if I go as wide as 40mm and beyond, are there many other DSOs to see and do they work OK with f5.9?

Budget: not a lot...£50? Still interested to hear all suggestions though!

[Koje]

I suspect a Skywatcher Panaview 32mm second hand would be in your budget. Fantastic eyepiece. They are that good they don't tend to come around used very often however....

[Charic]

+1 the Panaview, 32mm , 2.0" fitting   with 70° AFOV. 

[ronin]

To purchase new and so get it now you are looking at a 32mm plossl or the 25mm BST Starguider.

Both will deliever more or less exactly the same field, the plossl should be a little more but not by a lot.

The Vixen NPL 30mm is £45 and with the numbers given would give the same field as the 25mm BST.

The plossl may deliver a bit brighter object but a little smaller.

Not sure about 2" eyepieces, they tend to cost more but something like a used WO 40mm SWAN would give a 2.8 degree field, but when one appears is anyone's guess. Actualluy ignore WO SWANS, not good on f/5 scopes. But it is an example.

[phoobar]

This may be worth a look for £32.99 Revelation 30mm plossl 2" 70 fov http://www.telescopehouse.com/acatalog/Revelation_30mm_Eyepiece_2__.html

[Double Star]

Thanks for these replies.  Very helpful.

Going to 2" would mean a second set of any filters, though I only have the Bader Neodymium at present.  Would a 2" eyepiece be inherently better for seeing a desired 2 or 3' FOV, £ for £?

[John]

2" eyepieces are the only way to get the wider fields of view. There is a pysical limit to how wide a field an eyepiece can deliver and that is limited by the diameter of the eyepiece barrel.

A 32mm 1.25" eyepiece with your scope will show a 1.39 degree true field. In the 2" size the same focal length eyepiece can show a true field of 2.13 degrees - more than 50% wider.

The caveat is that the outer parts of the field of view can be distorted when low cost wide angle eyepieces are used in faster focal ratio scopes.

[Double Star]

2" eyepieces are the only way to get the wider fields of view. There is a pysical limit to how wide a field an eyepiece can deliver and that is limited by the diameter of the eyepiece barrel.

A 32mm 1.25" eyepiece with your scope will show a 1.39 degree true field. In the 2" size the same focal length eyepiece can show a true field of 2.13 degrees - more than 50% wider.

The caveat is that the outer parts of the field of view can be distorted when low cost wide angle eyepieces are used in faster focal ratio scopes.

That caveat seems to be a complaint about the 32mm Panaview, at least by the only reviewer on FLO's page.  I guess f5.9 is on the edge of 'fast', so if anyone has tried any 32mm+ EPs, 1.25 or 2" in a 200P, I'd be reassured to know how well they've performed.

[russ.will]

There's a 34mm Maxvision SWA in the classifieds (ahem!) that will give a slightly wider FOV than the 32mm Panaview, costs less and is much better corrected at the edges - It worked well in my F4.9 Dobs and to be fair, the F6 Skyliner isn't too taxing in this regard.

What I would say is that it may be necessary to hang some weight on the tail of the 200p to balance either and definitely the 34mm MV.

Russell

[Charic]

That caveat seems to be a complaint about the 32mm Panaview, at least by the only reviewer on FLO's page.  I guess f5.9 is on the edge of 'fast', so if anyone has tried any 32mm+ EPs, 1.25 or 2" in a 200P, I'd be reassured to know how well they've performed.

The review on  FLO was on a 12" telescope. You have an 8" telescope!  There maybe more distortion on the faster scope.

[YKSE]

John's comments pretty much sum it up all.

If you think you can handle the weight (some 800gram), the Maxvision 34mm should be clearly better than those cheap 70 degrees eyepieces(SW panaview included). There's one for sale on ABS for 65£.

[Double Star]

John's comments pretty much sum it up all.

If you think you can handle the weight (some 800gram), the Maxvision 34mm should be clearly better than those cheap 70 degrees eyepieces(SW panaview included). There's one for sale on ABS for 65£

 Great help all, thank you.

Something I won't pretend to know much about, but I did a pinhole card test in my garden and I could be working with as low as a 5mm exit pupil.  If I've understood things, am I pushing it with a 34mm eyepiece on a f5.9 scope (5.7mm exit pupil??).

I will take your advice. 

russ.will... Can't see the ad because I'd need 50 posts, but I'd be grateful if you could PM the text!

[YKSE]

The ads on ABS too

http://www.astrobuysell.com/uk/propview.php?view=92956

[John]

I think you would be OK with a 5.7mm exit pupil. I'm 55 and my largest exit pupil is 5.85mm and that seems to work pretty well when the skies are dark.

F/6 is quite a bit more forgiving on widefield eyepieces than F/5 although it still takes a pretty well corrected eyepiece to give wide fields that are sharp all the way to the edge at F/6.

[rwilkey]

Thanks for these replies.  Very helpful.

Going to 2" would mean a second set of any filters, though I only have the Bader Neodymium at present.  Would a 2" eyepiece be inherently better for seeing a desired 2 or 3' FOV, £ for £?

Hi DoubleStar, the best thing is to always buy 2" filters, that way they can be used with 2" to 1.25" adaptors as they all usually have a filter thread, and then you can use the filters with 2" or 1.25" eyepieces.  I did the duplication thing and one day it just dawned on me that buying two sets was just plain silly.

[rwilkey]

That caveat seems to be a complaint about the 32mm Panaview, at least by the only reviewer on FLO's page.  I guess f5.9 is on the edge of 'fast', so if anyone has tried any 32mm+ EPs, 1.25 or 2" in a 200P, I'd be reassured to know how well they've performed.

Hi, I have the 32mm PanaView, using it with the 200P f/5 and it works very well, in fact, stunningly so.  It was the first upgrade I ever bought after FLO leant it to me at a star party - I just couldn't give it back!  It will certainly work well on a f/5.9 which in my opinion is not really fast.