Workhorse magnification

[lw24]

Hi all,

I was just wondering what everyones workhorse magnfication is for DSOs, Planets and the Moon. I know that it'll change depending on the telescope, seeing, and DSO/Planet, but I just wanted to see the general trend.

Seeing as I only have the starting eyepieces (came with the scope):

DSO: 60x/15-25x (Open Clusters)

Planets: 120x

Moon: 60x/120x

Clear Skies!

[NGC 1502]

With my 10" F4.8 Dob a good all round magnification for me is in the 85 to 120x range, very useful for lots of objects.

But if thats all I had, then I wouldn't get all I could from my scope. I prefer smaller and sharper rather than bigger & fuzzier, rarely go over 200x except with unusually steady skies.

Regards, Ed.

[Adz]

My workhorse is the 13mm nag which gives me 92x mag in my dob. I use it for viewing every DSO. Finding it first though its the 24mm pan which gives me 50x mag

[Mr Spock]

All in the C9.25:

42mm LVW - x56, just right for open clusters. At 1.3° my widest field.

22mm Nagler - x107, brings out the best of the Orion Nebula. My most used eyepiece.

17mm Nagler - x138, useful for fainter objects and globulars

13mm LVW - x181, better for more detailed views of globulars

[hemihaggis]

whatever size your objective lens is in mm is roughly the magnification your scope can easily handle , ie a 200mm scope can handle 200x magnification , 300mm = 300x magnification .

[lw24]

Hmm, seems as if "workhorse" magnification is around 80x (on average)

[rwilkey]

I agree with above, my workhorse mag is 90x with my C100ED and my Ax 10mm. Otherwise general use 32mm PanaView at 28x - good crisp images. I see no benefit in pushing the mag limit as I prefer quality overall, just my personal preference. Lunar viewing is different, of course.

[bish]

My workhorse is the 11mm nagler. I seem to use it on everything bar planets.

[Hypernova]

My workhorse eyepiece in my 8" dob is a 14mm Speers-Waler, it gives a 0.9 degree FOV at 85x which is pretty much spot on for general viewing after finding the object of choice in a 32mm plossl. The sky background is darkened nicely and the 82 degree AFOV means that targets take longer to leave the field which means less nudging of the 'scope to keep it in view.

[swamp thing]

Hi

I guess the eyepiece I put in the focuser at the start of every session would be the work horse??

In which case:

In my 10"= 20mm T5 Nagler 57x 1.4 degree FOV

In my 16"= 31mm T5 Nagler 59x 1.3 degree FOV

These are my default low power general observing eyepieces.

Regards Steve