Sky-watcher127

On 25/01/2022 at 15:42, Floater said:

Welcome. Hope you have lots of fun (in the cold?). 🙂

At the time I was writing my first hello it was -10°C, but nonetheless it was fun  

14 hours ago, Greymouser said:

Hi and welcome to the forum. At least if it sunny there, I assume good clear skies at night?

I have to admit I'm having clear skies most nights, although being in the city i have limited seeing, but do plan on going to the outskirts, and hopefully see a lot more.

1 hour ago, vlaiv said:

That really depends what sort of views you are after.

I have 102mm Mak for lunar.

Biggest issue that I have with that scope is size of exit pupil. I guess that is just because I'm used to faster scopes for general observing and the fact that I observed mostly from light polluted areas. With F/6 scope and 32mm eyepiece - sky will look bluish/grey at low magnifications / wide field in light polluted skies.

For me it feels strange to use 32mm eyepiece and get very dark background - not something that I'm used to. Mind you - I don't really feel that boxed in as far as field of view goes. My main observing scope is F/6 8" dob - which has 1200mm of focal length - only 100mm shorter than my mak at 1300mm. It is just that when I use 32mm on 102 mak - it feels like using 8" dob with 3/4 of aperture covered with something - image is darker (again - it is due to what I'm used to).

I usually use ES 82° eyepieces with my Mak. These give good sharp view (11mm, 6.7mm). I also have 16mm 68°.

If you want a bit more expensive / better eyepieces / wider field of view - I'd say look into ES 62 and 68mm lines for longer focal lengths and ES82 for shorter focal lengths.

Why did I mention exit pupil? Well - those more expensive eyepieces have wider field of view and that means shorter focal length for same field stop.

ES68 24mm will show you the same amount of sky as say 30/32mm plossl (52° or 50° degrees AFOV) - but will do so with smaller exit pupil. You'll be around 2mm exit pupil with such eyepiece on F/12 scope. You might not mind that and you might find it nicer to have dark background - for me it feels sort of strange.

In any case - most more expensive eyepieces will have wider field of view and hence smaller exit pupil than simple plossls and alike.

If you are after best planetary performance with tracked scope then look at Vixen SLV line - these are very sharp eyepieces.

Again - don't go below about 8mm. I have ES82 6.7mm and it gives too much magnification for my eyes even on lunar (which can take up quite a bit of mag). I'll probably get ES82 8.8mm for that scope at some point

 

 

Thank you for all the advices, it was really informative, and you gave me something to think about

Vixen SLV looks really good

1 hour ago, vlaiv said:

I don't think it is wise to spend money on barlow lens with that scope.

Barlow lens is meant to allow one to attain higher magnification. That scope already has 1500mm of focal length and you don't really need shorter focal length eyepiece than say 7-8mm.

Here is example list of what you could get for that scope that won't break the bank:

- Lower power EP:

30mm Vixen NPL

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/vixen-eyepieces/vixen-npl-eyepieces.html

(don't go for 40mm. As much as it is tempting - it has same true FOV as 30mm but smaller apparent FOV and longer eye relief that can actually be a problem - holding exit pupil is not so comfortable with very long eye relief).

- Medium power EP:

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/stellalyra-eyepieces/stellalyra-20mm-125-superview-eyepiece.html

- Get this as well for high power viewing:

https://www.svbony.com/SV135-1-25inch-Zoom-Eyepiece-/

Although it has 7-21mm range, you'll probably use it in say 7-14mm range because very small FOV in longer focal lengths.

Interesting choices and I see why no barlow.

Since my budget is a bit bigger, would you change anything else? I mean not that I am asking to spend more, just wanted to see if the price range changes anything in terms of quality.

Thank you

28 minutes ago, Stu1smartcookie said:

One thing which might help from your side is to let us know what budget you have for EP's .

You may want to consider a zoom EP ?

Maybe a very low power Ep , a mid range one and a high(ish ) power one ... i have a couple of baader hyperions that i quite like . But its horses for courses , and some might point you in a certain direction due to the scope you have . 

 

 

I forgot to mention mount is Az-Gti, I know it is not EQ, but it is a start.

I have considered zoom EP, but not sure how they behave from end to end. I guess primes are always better, but like I said new to those stuff.

I wouldn't want to save on those things as it is for the long run, but I also don't want to spend too much as I am just getting started. I would say somewhere in between 100 - 140€ per ep/barlow.

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For astrophotography I assume you mean snapshots with your smartphone. Otherwise I'd suggest you will need a different scope for it because your Mak isn't really suitable due to its long focal length and slow focal ratio. You will also need a reliable EQ mount with tracking capability for it.

I do own a D5600 nikon, with 70-200mm and a 18-50mm, so have something to start with, but would rather wait for a year rather than going all over the place and end up loosing interest.

And mostly it would be for planetary and hopefully those not so dim DSOs.

Hi everyone,

New to the forum, just wanted to say hi from sunny and freezing Croatia

Hello everyone,

I need advice getting new eyepieces for my maks 127/1500. I have two eyepieces that came with it, 25mm and 10mm.

Looking around the web, general consenzus is to replace 10mm. 25 mm is not that bad, but for me it seems the eye relief is a little small.

My idea is to have 2-3 quality EP, and x2 barlow.

Since i tend to overthink I can't really decide.

For barlow I was thinking something in this price range

https://www.astroshop.eu/barlow-lenses/celestron-x-cel-lx-1-25-2x-barlow-lens/p,24891
https://www.astroshop.eu/barlow-lenses/explore-scientific-barlow-lens-focal-extender-2x-1-25-/p,54035

For eyepieces I really don't know, I've read bunch of blogs, seen youtube videos bit still can't quite decide. Just to mention I don't wear glasses nor have astigmatism, but would be good if you can recommend something that will be ok for my 6 year old, if that counts as something.

Oh, almost forgot I'd like to use telescope for astrophotography as well, but don't want to jump in just yet.

Thank you