Schorhr

Seben doesn't sell via their website anymore, but Amazon and eBay. Their brand is "Orbinar". Most stuff is crap, but some of their eyepieces, like the zoom, is OK. (Edit: They have different ones, the cheap €20 one is not good, I have that one too). I have the Teleskop Express Zoom (similar, but 7-21mm). Beware: - A turning zoom eyepiece in the rotating/helical focuser can be pretty awkward - These zooms have 40-60° apparent field of view. The lower magnification only 40°, making them poor overview eyepieces. 60° is still not as large as you were looking for I rarely ever use the Astrozoom, only in my daytime spotting scope. The dedicated eyepieces perform better- IMHO. For the money of the zoom and a good (!) barlow, you can get some nice wide-angle eyepieces. Or follow the mount idea if you find it necessary.

As happy-kat wrote, practice "nudging" the telescope to track the objects. It's a bit finicky at first, but you should get the hang of it quickly. Also, with a well aligned finder, you should be able to point&scan even at medium-high magnifications. And then... teach them! I had a 9-10 year old at an outreach event, which quickly became self-declared telescope operator, to show others Jupiter at up to 400x... We had exceptional seeing that night. And of course I did not bring my tracking platform, as I had not expected this. I am not sure if it would help much if you'd increase transit time by getting a 82° eyepiece, say, increase transit time from one and a half minutes to two minutes, (e.g. 10mm+barlow), if you already struggle with the relatively long transit times in the 10mm without barlow. TL;DR: Either practice, or use a EQ/tracking mount/platform. If you're lucky you might find an EQ2 or Astro3 in the classifieds for under €50. They are not ideal for the Heritage... But at that price, and without extended legs, they might do OK (especially since you're observing at moderate magnifications). With an EQ mount, you just turn one axis to follow the planets. The NEQ3 mount that's more rigid costs €200 though.

Yes, but what type of eyepieces? E:g. I've bought a 4mm Plössl when I started out, and it's nearly useless due to the horrible eye-relief. Even if the conditions allow, it's difficult to observe. The HR Planetary of similar focal-length is usable almost every night for planets and double stars. Only above 200x I find seeing really becomes a major issue (But with >200x with the larger telescopes of course).

What 4mm eyepiece do you have? I use the shorter eyepiece a lot for planets. I find seeing conditions work at 150-180x most of the time. Unless I'm observing directly over a roof-top or the mirror hasn't cooled down. A (budget) barlow will always reduce the contrast a little.

All zooms suck in that regard, as they have a narrower apparent field of view on one side of the setting. There's the Astrozoom, but it's not as wide-range, and only for 2" focusers. I tried using it in the Heritage, but it's not worth it. At higher magnifications, things will get out of the view faster. With a 3-4mm for example, it's quite fast, but you get used to it. With the 66° gold-line, setting the planet into the left corner, and letting it travel across, works quite well. There are some 82° eyepieces, but I do not have any of these, and can't tell you how well they fare in the Heritage/Onesky, weight-wise. What confuses me is that you're having such a hard time at only 10mm/65x to keep the planets in the view. Perhaps it's not so much the eyepiece's apparent field of view, but the rather short eye-relief that makes it difficult keeping things in the view? Are you wearing glasses? The field transit time should still be over a minute in each scenario: Field transit, At 0° declination, at 22° declination - 10mm50° 185 seconds, 161 - 10mm82° 303 seconds, 264 - 4mm58° 85 seconds, 75 - 4mm82° 121 seconds, 105 (A barlow of course will decrease that) Other thought: As you are considering spending so much money for a large field of view eyepiece, do note that while 70° vs 50° makes a difference, you might be better off investing in either an equatorial mount (e.g. used NEQ3/EQ-3-2) - Or if you don't want to negate the portability, building some sort of EQ Platform (a barndoor-type tracker might still work with the 5") in order to more easily keep the planets in the view. Commercial EQ Platforms cost too much compared to other solutions for 5". What country are you from?

Hi When you say "a broader view" than the original 10mm, do you want to replace that focal-length/magnification in particularly, or want a wider field of view in general? Do you have any eyepieces other than the 10mm (65x magnification) and 25mm (26x magnification)? What is your budget? The Morpheus eyepeices are rather expensive. IMHO you could get a bunch of decent eyepieces for the Heritage. A 32mm Plössl for an overview; http://blog.pixelgiraffe.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/fieldcompare.jpg And a ~4mm with long eye-relief for Planets. http://blog.pixelgiraffe.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/130-650-high_3.png http://blog.pixelgiraffe.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/awb_Heritage_Magnifications_small.png http://blog.pixelgiraffe.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/AFOV_.png A 32mm Plössl, a 15mm gold-line (66°), 9mm gold-line, 6mm gold-line, 4mm HR Planetary (only 58° but good performers) would be my recommendation, when ordered via Aliexpress or eBay, those total for around $120 or less, and thus cheaper as a single Morpheus eyepiece Clear skies!

Hi, unless someone has bought it very recently, you are probably better off just asking FLO :-) I would asume it's still the case.

Budget overview eyepiece 30/32mm Plössl (Seben 14£ but doesn't have a eyecup, can be built out of pipe isolation foam) and/or 20mm erfle eyepiece (19-20£, smaller exit pupil ideal if you are close to the city.) 40mm 1.25" Plössl doesn't make much sense, small field of view, too large exit pupil, and same field as a 32mm. If on a tight budget, stick with the 25mm kit ep. 'Deepsky eyepiece' (2-3mm exit pupil) 12 22€ erfle or 12-15mm "goldline" 66degree apparent field of view "Planet eyepiece" Modified 6mm gold line 66degree, you can modify it to around 3-4mm. HR Planetary from 35£ or so works better, TMB explorer or ts ed if you can afford it. If your barlow is an achromatic one, does it add noticable color fringe/chromatuc aberration? I have the Seben 2x achromatic barlow, very decent for 11£, not as good as a eyepiece for high mag. 6mm plössl might work for you, costs less then 10£, but the eye relief is verrrry short. I have the 4mm seben plössl, the short eye relief makes unusable IMHO. A bit cheaper would be 30mm plössl, 10mm and 2mm barlow, but I would save a bit instead. The 3x meade/bresser barlow (17£) I have has horrible chromatic aberration. If you want better eyepieces, especially at f/5, you could take a look at the explore scientific 82deg eyepieces.

I have a CLS filter, basically not as narrow banded as UHC. It's only useful with some nebulae, not galaxies. I would suggest getting an eyepiece with 2-3x the aperture ratio, I use a 12mm Seben Erfle. Does not get as dark as the 8mm HR-Planetary, though it's the shortest of their Erfle series I would recommend. I like the HR Planetary that are a bit similar to the BST, though the larger field of view is nice. If I had to choose three eyepieces, 24mm ~68 degree 12-15mm TS ED / BST or 15mm 66deg uwa Astrozoom in the range ~4-6mm as those zoom's apparent field of view does not get smaller (astrozoom.de) or on a budget the 6mm 66deg uwa with the film can mod But even with the cheaper eyepieces I'm having a lot of fun, I would say the step up to those would not be as great as to the ones I have compared to the kit eyepieces. Having more eyepieces can be nice, especially when seeing and light pollution conditions change. But usually, I just put three eyepieces in my jacket and take the Heritage outside. Covers 95,4% of all objects ;-) As said, for deepsky a exit pupil around 2-3mm (10-15mm eypiece) will give a good contrast, dark sky background... But of course some smaller DSO just need a tad more magnification, under 1mm exit pupil it just gets dark though while only a little more detail is gained.

For the heritage, these cheaper solution work well Overview a 30-32mm plössl under good conditions and a limited budget = or a 20-24mm wide angle eyepiece under some light pollution (smaller exit pupil) See http://blog.pixelgiraffe.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/fieldcompare.jpg Seben 30mm (no eyecup, pipe isolation is one way to fix that, available via ebay or amazon as well) http://shop.seben.com/sms/shop/index.php?p=b3JnYT1zZWJlbiZncm91cD0xJmxhbmc9MSZjdXJyPTE=&action=products&mode=view&id=161 http://shop.seben.com/sms/shop/index.php?p=b3JnYT1zZWJlbiZncm91cD0xJmxhbmc9MSZjdXJyPTE=&action=products&mode=view&id=197 I use this one more then the plössl in the city due to the smaller exit pupil, the 30mm 's exit pupil is a bit large for light polluted skies. Or perhaps the 24mm BST/ TS ED, even Explore Scientific (though heavy) if you are not on a budget. I have both the plössl and the wide angle eyepiece (different lable, looks identical judging by the 12mm wide angle I do have from seben.). For higher magnification the 6mm http://www.ebay.de/itm/wide-angle-eyepiece-1-25inches-66-degree-F-6mm-/140717462903 I was suprised that the quality was not much different then the HR Planetary, the sometimes reported kidney beaning of the 6mm was fine when I used the eyecup. The upside of the 6mm is that you can change the distance to the bottom element with a old 35mm film can to test how good your heritage mirror is - http://blog.pixelgiraffe.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/WIN_20140527_223234-1024x576.jpg -prior to buying a 3-5mm for planetary use.(You may need to shorten the tube via flextube mechanism depending on the length ) Trust me, the positions of the planets will be better again, hang in there ;-) Inbetween you could either use the KIT eyepieces or consider more of the 66degree eyepieces, or TS ED / BST Explorer, or just upgrade with erfle if you can live with the outer field being not perfect at f/5. Stay away from sets, often just a bunch of overpriced plössl and never matching the telescope kit. Plus Plössl under 10mm have awefully short eye relief. 3 good eyepieces go a long way.

Hi, also check the used market here or in a US forum. Again, plössl under 10mm have very short eye relief; http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vixen-Optics-NPL-6mm-Plossl-Eyepiece-1-25-Super-Sharp-39202-/351143299518?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item51c1c589be http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-6mm-Celestron-Plossl-telescope-eyepiece-/291219338810?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43ce06763a or as mentioned http://www.ebay.com/itm/Achromatische-Barlow-Linse-BA2-2x-fuer-Teleskope-31-7mm-/200607942106 http://www.ebay.com/itm/Skys-the-Limit-1-25-2x-Achromatic-Barlow-Lens-Metal-Bodied-/380569583507?pt=UK_Telescope_Eyepieces&hash=item589bb6ff93 ATTENTION I am not aware of import duties, taxes and the duty-free limit of small items over there, but if that is an option, There's probably a local source of these, they where sold under different lables/colors. http://www.dutycalculator.com/new-import-duty-and-tax-calculation/ - seems like under $200 just some tax applies. Might depend on if you declare it as telescope eyepiece, microscope equipment or other optics, always worth looking into. But check the official gov sites, too. It's allways a good idea to buy locally... Especially if you can't wait to try it out :-) I saw the 6mm 66degree eyepiece at a US telescope shop, but of course, twice as much as from the UK/three times as much as from china. The better deal, as said, are the 6mm 66deg eyepieces. 116x is OK, not as dark and over magnified as the 4mm eyepieces often sold with these kits. 0,65mm exit pupil is also O.K., and if that's to dark on some faint objects, use the 10mm eyepiece. according to http://www.dutycalculator.com/new-import-duty-and-tax-calculation/ the eyepiece from the UK http://www.ebay.com/itm/wide-angle-eyepiece-1-25inches-66-degree-F-6mm-/140717462903?pt=UK_Telescope_Eyepieces&hash=item20c36a1577 costs around US$46 ("Duty result is nil because the total value of the products does not exceed US$200.00") so same applies for the Plössl or barlow, though I would imagine there is a similar inexpensive source in the US (surplusshed.com? Craigslist?) The 6mm 66deg costs around 30-36 dollars at Aliexpress, but of course you have to check the seller reputation and ideally use a prepaid credit card or so. Also make sure the telescope is collimated, using a dust cap with a hole or 35mm film can. At least the secondary mirror should not be completely off or the primary mirror tilted, etc. (Prevent touchingthe surface, and even if, don't clean it though without reading a guide on how to clean telescope optics as the front surface mirror coatings are very delicate)

Hi there, I started with a similar telescope (different brand).:-) I don't know how sturdy the celestron mount is, this was always the limiting factor for my set, and especially when using higher magnification. Sadly, this is for many starter sets and many beginners give up frustrated - not because the optics are bad, but due to cheap accessoires and the lack of literature on how to localte galaxies and such. Higher magnification is not everything, with 700 mm focal length a 10mm eyepiece will give you 70x (700/10=70) and the other eyepiece 35x. I also reccomend getting "turn left at orion" as it helps you find things, explains a lot, and shows you what to expect. The andromeda galaxy, m81/m82, the ring- and dumbbell nebula (later the magnificent orion nebula), star clusters hχ persei, m13, the coat hanger and many more become visible even with lower magnification. The best result for deep sky will be with an eyepiece with around 2-3mm exit pupil (exit pupil = eyepiecemm devidedby focalratio) (focal ratio equals telescopeFocalLength devidedby Aperture) So while the 20mm eyepiece gives you little magnification, it will still show you a relatively bright image with a dark sky background, giving you more contrast for deep sky observations. Smaller objects such as the ring nebula or star clusters may benefit from a bit more, say, 70-100x. A few Objects such as the orion nebula, open star clusters (plejades!) actually benefit from low magnification. Don't spend a lot of money on accessories now. Was there a barlow lens included? (a tube that comes inbetween telescope and eyepiece, increasing magnification by typicaly 2x). I would also suggest not going much over 100x. But despite better eypiece quality, 8mm may be a bit too close to what you've got. Seben germany sells cheap plössl, and while their telescopes get a lot bad reviews, I find their plössl and erfle eyepiece a great deal given their price, and they seem identical to those I have from other sellers with a better reputation. Seben/Orbinar ships internationally, they have a lot of offers on ebay. Their Plössl cost around 9-16€ or so, 8-14£ I guess. The problem with plössl eyepieces though is that the eye relief of those otherwise great eyepieces gets very short under 10mm. Some find 6.5mm still useable, so this might be the budget option. Another is the 2x achromatic barlow for 13,50€/11£(?), actually this one was better then the Meade/Bresser barlow I got for 20€. A barlow will decrease the contrast, it introduces chromatic aberation / color fringe to the system. But I find it still acceptable, and solves the issue with the short eye relief. They also sell a 12mm erfle for 22€ (19£?) that has a bit short eye relief (the 8mm will probably too, but I don't have that; The 20mm has a nice longer eye relief). The 12mm plus barlow may be a great combination for that type of telescope. If you want to spend a bit more, the 6mm 66degree eyepiece can be bought for 23€ in china or 32€ (w/shipping) in the UK (27£), 40€ in germany. http://m.ebay.de/itm/wide-angle-eyepiece-1-25inches-66-degree-F-6mm-/140717462903 It has some kidney beaning but I do not find it bothersome, works well when using the eyecup. This is a wide angle eyepiece. The moon (almost) fits completely into view at over 100x. Keep in mind planets will never appear huge, not even in a larger telescope due to seeing of the atmosphere. Galaxies will mostly remain faint smudges in the night sky, a larger 5-6" telescope (130£-230£ / 160-260€) will show a bit of detal in them, a 8" dobsonian (330€) will start to show spiral structures of some galaxies, individual stars of star clusters down to their center, and greater detail on planets, too... So don't spend 200£ on eyepieces ;-) Save the money. I observed a very long time with just three (halfway decent eyepieces) and that will show you a lot. For the 76/700 this could be -A 30-32mm Plössl or 20-25mm wide angle eyepiece to show more field of view, giving a better orientation and makes finding things via star-hopping easier -A 12mm -A 6mm or similar, or a barlow So for now you could simply ad one eyepiece as you have two close to that, and add better ones laterr. More magnification will rarely make sense with a small telescope like that, and adding more steps inbetween does not really enhance the experience. For example, 70 and 80x will barely be different in both magnification and exit pupil (the amount/diameter of light exiting the eyepiece)

At f/8, the 66 degree eyepiece offered by skywatcher, TS and others do an excelent job. They are modified Plössl and come in the flavors 6, 9, 15 and 20mm, a UK store sells them for 27£ or so at ebay.

http://www.celestron.com/support/manuals-software?article=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.celestron.com%2Fc3%2Fsupport3%2Findex.php%3F_m%3Ddownloads%26_a%3Dviewdownload%26downloaditemid%3D865%26nav%3D0%26group%3Diframe ?

Very nice :-) you'll find a Mars globe and the footprints on the moon at thingiverse :-)