SpaceWalker

The former is true except the Moon, the latter is false. If you like observing Mars and especially Jupiter the Baader Moon & Sky Glow filter is a must, IMO. Although, for Mars a Magenta #30 works better. For the Moon you'd better observe at least halfmoon and pump up magnification significantly that reduces brightness. Any filter, neutral or polarizer, bounces/disperses some light and reduces sharpness, do you want this trade off? As John explained above the Baader M&SG is a broadband filter and doesn't work on nebulae etc. IMO, for the emission nebulae you'd better get Astronomic OIII or at least Baader visual OIII filter. For the reflection nebulae and galaxies no any effective filter exists other than "gasoline filter" (fill up gas tank and drive to a dark area 😀).

You may want to look into Al Nagler's advise for 8" SCT users. Not necessary you should buy TeleVue, but you can get an idea. http://www.televue.com/engine/TV3b_page.asp?return=Advice&id=97

Takahashi LEs seem still available new, but they cost inbetween TV Delites and Naglers T6 ?

If anybody interested. Ernest has bench tested Mark III and found it is 1) poorly corrected off-axis at all settings; 2) shrinks FOV pretty fast, e.g. from 72* at 8mm to plossl-like 52* at 16mm and just to ortho-like 44* at 24mm, so it's useful mostly within 8-12mm. And I also *suspect* ? it may have EOFB (Edge of Field Brightening) like other zooms, even expensive ones (e.g. Leica). IMO, like any other, even cheaper zooms, it's good for 1)planetary observations since allows to select optimal magnification within seconds instead of wasting time for pulling back and force separate EPs; 2) as noted above, good for solar observations; 3) very useful for fast dialing up optimal magnification for faint fuzzies; 4) overall good grab-n-go eyepiece. But IMO, it's not a serious competitor for mid-range (e.g. ES68/82/100) or premium (e.g. Pentax, Nikon, TV) eyepieces for DSO observations especially in faster scopes, what actually John has reported above. To each its own. ? But I agree, overall good addition to one's EP collection, nice to have it in your EP case.

There are indeed some useful threads on CN discussing 100*AFOV eyepieces including the Lunt. For those who are interested I'd suggest to check out the thread *Lunt XWA 9mm* on CN, especially posts ##9 and 11 by vkhastro1. https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/563666-lunt-xwa-9mm/

Very nice guide! But the link to Messier Charts seems outdated. Everybody can try this Messier Finder Charts with the TelRad circles.

Hi Ruud, Thanks for the useful info. Sounds good to me. I wanted to upgrade my 6.5mm Meade HD-60, so I'm considering the 6.5mm Morpheus as a most appropriate candidate. The HD-60 works excellent in my f/6 Dob, no complaints except that the 60* views look a little bit claustrophobic after looking through 82*AFOV eyepieces. I can get a used 7mm Nagler T6, but prefer slightly darker background and higher contrast provided by shorter FL eyepieces. As for the 12.5mm Morpheus I can skip it and get the 11mm ES82 instead. Clear skies.

So... any new field reports? I'd especially be interested to hear how the 6.5mm and 12.5mm work in faster scopes since I have f/6 Dob. We've already got mixed reports on the 12.5mm Morpheus (do you like FC? I don't for this price), but those were just pre-production samples.

Well, you've got a lot of excellent advises here. And with more practice you'll be able to see much more DSOs. About eyepieces. Under light polluted skies for best contrast you shouldn't exceed an exit pupil of 3.5-4mm, better if it'll be closer to 3mm. So the best reasonably priced long focal length wide angle eyepieces for your scope (and mine too) should be ~18-22mm. For example, the 18mm ES82 or 20mm Maxvision. They'll give you an exit pupil of 3mm and 3.4mm and magnification of 67x and 60x, respectively. As for galaxies and nebulae, everything as others said, you need a reasonable bump in magnification for better contrast under LP skies. Many smaller galaxies require exit pupil ~1.5-2mm that converts in your Dob into 8-12mm focal length or 150x-100x. If I were you I would invest into a 12mm wide angle eyepiece that'll give you 100x magnification and 2mm exit pupil as you've been advised already. For example, something like the 11mm ES82 or 12mm Celestron X-Cel LX. Of course, no one eyepiece will substitute a trip to a dark sky spot, but...there are some things that you can do relatively easy to improve the contrast like 1) Adding at least a minimal hood or better full size tube-like hood , you can make it yourself from any sheet of a dark plastic or tourist mat. 2) Flocking the OTA using professional dark liner like Protostar or any other dark material. Not necessary disassembling the OTA, just read advise #5 here and flock most important area against the focuser . If you are interested read more on flocking: link 1 , link2 , link 3 . I used to observe in LP skies and the improvement in contrast after I've just added the hood (even without flocking) was noticeable, I started seeing fainter objects. To preserve dark adaptation people use Observer Vests and red goggles . If you have basic DIYer skills and some tools, you can fabricate light blocking screens like this or this. There are much more ways you can improve your scope and make your observing experience more exciting. I can recommend you to check out this Mega-mod thread for Zhumell dobs . And don't forget about a good Observing Chair like this or this. No one premium eyepiece can improve the resolution of your scope more than a good comfortable chair . Good luck.