Sargares

Considering I’m only interested in visual I’d agree with most above. Biggest quality solid tube dob I can use without too much hassle. Hard to beat a dobsonian when you get so much more aperture for your money. if I was into AP also that would complicate the issue rather a lot. Probably have to go with a mid sized refractor in that case.

@Barry-W-Fenner I’ve had a good bit of use the last week with the morphs I have in the 250p. Really enjoying them a lot. I’m also really really enjoying the APM 30mm uff which is very flat and crisp right to the edge although does seem to have less eye relief than the Morpheus and you do notice the 8 degrees or whatever it is less field of view. the Morpheus do seem to go off very slightly at the edges. The 9 seems slightly better than the 17.5. But it’s really the very very edges. 95% of the field of view is perfect. They’re contrasty, comfortable and easy to use. They’re not parfocal but it’s close. Will have more info when I grab the 6.5 and 12.5 in a few weeks.

Ahhh it was Io. I just commented on another post mentioning I’d seen a moon transitioning across Jupiter but didn’t check which one. I managed to get upto 266x with a 10" dob. I need some more eyepieces really as the sweet spot would’ve been a little less. It looked better at lower magnification but was good enough at 266 I felt it was worth it. I had a go at Saturn at 266 but it was too low and too close to a street light and looked terrible.

Personally considering last night was forecast good seeing, I found it very much a let down. Very hazy. It started to improve about 2am but I’d had enough by then. Thursday was much better. I wanted to go for m13 personally but couldn’t even see Hercules so wasn’t bothered about messing around shooting from the hip. Ended up nosing around Lyra and scutum for a few open clusters, double double, Vega etc. Then had a look at Saturn and Jupiter. Saturn I couldn’t get to focus at 266x it’s too low. Looked far better at half that magnification. Jupiter was just about ok at 266 and I believe I could see a moon moving across it. Didn’t bother to check which.

I saw quite a few. The children did better but I wasn’t paying as much attention. A few good ones and half a dozen fast ones. I think the kids spotted about 15-20 over a few hours. Nothing crazy but not a wasted trip either.

It’s a bit to get your head around at first but once you’ve grasped the concept (which I’m sure I haven’t totally myself!) it makes more sense. there seems to be some margin though. The spacer recommended was based on it needing to be 75mm. Needing a spacer + another 10mm for the 1.25 adapter. I think in the above thread he found in practice it needed about 78mm in his f5 scope and about 80mm in his f4.5. Then there was a +/- range of about 10mm where it worked pretty well. So it probably doesn’t need to be absolutely perfect to perform in practice. a paracorr for example doesn’t get everything perfect as it adjusts in steps. Still works.

I believe there’s some margin of error on the Cc where Performance is largely good. Claimed upto +/- 10mm apparently where it should be satisfactory. personally I just plonked in most in focus eyepiece and trial and errored it untill the coma correction looked best. Left the focuser there and then as described. You can focus your other eyepieces by just moving them out from there and locking them. (Then ideally add parfocalising rings to set them to that position so next time you can just drop them in.)

I have the gso CC with spacer as recommended by Louis and use it in a 250p with Morpheus. Not much miles on the clock yet but does seem to work. In Europe I could only find it branded as Omegon. the skywatcher Cc is a 0.9x reducer and has issues with back focus I believe. So that wasn’t desirable. Really the only solutions I could find after looking around was a modified GSO cc or a paracorr which is MUCH more expensive. the gso is a 1.1x Barlow (paracorr 1.15x) so that’s worth factoring in. Most of the coma correctors on the market seem specifically aimed at astrophotography and don’t play well with eyepieces and visual.

Aye. I really don’t like barlows for the above reason, the faff, and the fact they usually throw the focus out miles. In this case it’ll only be 200 and 300 approx magnifications. the levitating above the eyepiece isn’t the end of the world for me though. Just a minor nuisance.

Yes I’m thinking the 12.5 morph + Barlow seems the most sensible option. Can Barlow the 9 then also for the likes of Saturn for higher magnification again. As @John says. When trying to be sensible and not let the gear acquisition syndrome get the better of you. It’s hard to argue with the Morpheus range. Competitive performance. Almost nagler FoV. Cheaper than the alternatives, in some cases by quite a lot.

The other option is a 12mm Delos + Barlow. Which I wouldn’t consider as barlows are a pain but it’ll spend most of its time without the Barlow on anyway.

So, thinking about future additions to the collection. I may add the Morpheus 6.5 and 12.5 as that’ll give me magnifications around 200 and 100x which are gaps I have right now. The 6.5 would be the most powerful eyepiece in the stash. I think 203x is enough to get reasonably regularly use. (1200 focal length + 1.1x Barlow from coma corrector) How do those two fit into the set? I know the 9 and the 17.5 are a lot of peoples favourites. I’d be more inclined to go over budget at the 12.5 size IF that one is one of the weaker ones in the set as it’s a magnification that’s likely to get a lot more use.

I don’t think there really is a price point at which they become premium. I’ve got an APM eyepiece that feels and looks cheaper than the baader but it certainly performs exceptionally well. for me the premium quality is more a reference to them being solid, appear to be made from good quality materials, and well thought out. Little touches like the rings to keep the EP from falling from the focuser. The little things.

First go of my Morpheus 17.5 last night. Took the kids out to see the Perseids but brought along a starblast 4.5. I had to change location due to cloud cover which meant going somewhere we shouldn’t have been so couldn’t bring a bigger scope incase we had to run away 😅 I’ve got the 9 also but didn’t have time to use it. I don’t have the experience to compare to ultra premium eye pieces but it really blew away my cheaper ones. Only had time to have a quick look at Jupiter (low magnification so looked like a pea) but probably slightly better than the plossls with MILES more eye relief and much wider field of view. Really easy to find and follow what you’re looking at. It’s almost like peering through a portal into space as you can move your head around looking into the “corners” of the field of view. Also had a quick look at m34 which was great. Looking forward to getting the 9 out for a test drive too in the 10” dob where I think theyll really come into there own. far superior build quality to anything else I have too which is nice. they feel premium.

Ahhhh, I observed this by complete chance. Almost clear sky and no moon so was as good a view as I was going to get. I was wondering why I couldn’t see europa! Guess that explains it!

@Louis D did some more reading. The Sky-Watcher is. 0.9x reducer and seems only useful for photography. Moves the focal point even further. Also lots of complaints about reflections. I found an omegon branded gso coma corrector in Europe so went with that plus the recommended spacer. Cheers. Also done a lot of reading on eyepieces. Think I’ll pull the trigger on Baader Morpheus 17.5 and 9mm and the APM 30mm UFF. I’m tempted on the 6.5 but the 9 seems to get more love for better eye relief and more immersive view. I can always Barlow if the seeing is good enough and viewing planets I suppose.

@Louis D cheers! Skywatcher does a coma corrector for their f5 reflectors I presume wouldn’t need a spacer. Would that work? the APM 30mm UFF after doing some reading seems like a winner too. Will have a look at the baader Morpheus too, seems likely worth the small amount more money.

Hey guys. First post. pretty new to all this, I bought a Starblast 2 for the kids and mrs last year and suprise suprise it never left the box. I ended up using it just so it got some use and I’ve gotten a little hooked. [removed word] the mrs off down the bottom of the garden at 1am every time there’s a clear sky. Ive snagged a cheap used 10” Skywatcher 250p dob after trying a friends dob. I’ve only got some cheap plossls and a cheap Barlow at the moment. considering the saving on the scope I’m going to spend that on a few eyepieces to get some more out of it. I’m thinking ES 2" 62* 32mm or 26 ES 62* 20mm or 14 ES 82* something higher powered and this is where it gets a minefield. LER or not? Which one? I’m thinking something 7-10mm range. I don’t wear glasses or have any other issues that could complicate viewing. Just looking for a good spectrum of bang for buck eye pieces with as good field of view as possible without spending a fortune. Cheers