help with eyepieces

[allen g]

Hi all. One year new to astronomy and just joined SGL. Found the posts highly informative. I want to thank Ant for his welcome and assistance and Andrew for his article and expert advice is suggesting some eyeieces. I will be attending the Pacific Astronomy and Telescope show this coming weekend in Pasadena Calif (reside in Southern California where we have warm and good weather most of the year. I intend to pick up some eyepieces as they discount them at the show for my Meade LX 90 ACF 8" scope (with diagonal that converts from 1.25 to 2). As a semi-retired professor I intend to enjoy every opportunity to view the skies after a lifetime conducting research and waiting to get involved in astronomy. Anyway, has anyone had the experience of using ethos eyepieces on this scope or a similar type of scope. I was thinking of the 10 but also a 17 or 21 mm. Very much appreciate your input and guidance. From sunny california, allen g.

[John]

Hi - welcome to SGL

The Baader Hyperion eyepieces work very well with most scopes and are available in the 17mm and 21mm focal lengths. An alternative in the USA would be the Orion Stratus range which are very close to being clones of the Hyperions and again get positive reviews from schmidt-cassegrain users.

[allen g]

thanks very much for the info i shall check it out

[Moonshane]

not quite the same scope but I have a 6" f11 dobsonian. with the 13mm Ethos this is an excellent combination with magnification of 123x and a true field of 0.8 degrees. Personally though I would sooner have two Naglers than one Ethos. If I were considering say a 21 Ethos, I'd probably more likely go for a 26mm Nagler plus a 17mm Nagler which would not be much more expensive and for me give a really excellent field and a very easy/comfortable (to the field stop) view. I have a 26mm Nagler and love it too.

[Andrew*]

Hi Allen, you're more than welcome.

Don't Tele Vue say that Ethos eyepieces work fine in sets of three: 8mm, 13mm and 21mm or 6mm, 10mm and 17mm. So for you, I would say the 10mm and 17mm would make a great pair (the 6mm at 333x would not get much use), but personally I would think the jump from 10mm to 21mm would be too great.

However, I would still seriously consider the Explore Scientific 100 degree range as with the current discounts in the US they are extremely good value and you can get the 9mm and 14mm for the price of a single Ethos. They are said to be very close to Ethos.

Good luck, and enjoy the show,

Andrew

[allen g]

andrew permit me to run this by you. what about a 9 mm ES and 13 and 21 ethos as a set. I can get a very good discount on these eyepieces. you opinion as well as others are greaty appreciated . allen g

[allen g]

andrew, another thought could be 10 and 21 ethos and 14 es? much appreciated. allen g

[Andrew*]

Both ideas sound fine to me. Or to throw another, slightly cheaper idea into the mix, 9mm ES, 14mm ES and 21mm Ethos.

Don't forget, you will benefit from a 40mm eyepiece with a ~70 degree field to give you a lower magnification for larger objects and finding. I don't know what the situation with Skywatcher is in the US, but I would recommend the 38mm Panoptic or 40mm Aero. Other options include 40mm William Optics SWAN, 42mm Vixen LVW or even 41mm Panoptic. There's a whole host of eyepieces of this type, ranging greatly in price, but to be perfectly frank, at f/10, you don't need to be too picky. The important things to look out for are that it's not uncomfortably heavy or large, and that it doesn't suffer from kidney-beaning too much. If you think you might get a second, slightly faster scope in the future, you could be a bit more picky.

Andrew

[Alma]

I use a 13mm Ethos in a Celestron C8 which of course is same design specs more or less as the Meade, and it works very nicely indeed. Being 1.25" it also works very well with the f6.3 reducer which would not be possible with the 2" Ethos models. I guess the longer focal length Ethoses would be fine for you but I haven't tried them myself, however I do use a 31mm Nagler which isn't too bad in the C8. With UK skies I don't go much under 13mm and don't plan to buy any of the short fl Ethoses.

Alan

[Alma]

By the way, I can also highly recommend the 24mm Panoptic - apart from being a fantastically comfortable eyepiece in every scope I've tried it in, with the f6.3 reducer fitted it gives you the maximum field of view possible for an 8" f/10 SCT (not sure whether this is still true with the 41mm Panoptic on the scene, but the 24mm Pan is much lighter and smaller). I should have explained that my slight reservation about the 31mm Nagler in the C8 is the sheer size and weight of the thing - I can balance the scope OK but it always makes me nervous when you have so many screw threaded bits and pieces attached to SCT visual back - these can have a nasty tendency to unscrew with such a heavy item sitting in the diagonal.

Alan

[allen g]

Andrew and other SGL members, thanks for your input on eyepieces. I went to the Pacific Astronomy and Telescope Show (in Pasadena California on Saturday). I even had the opportunity to speak with David Nagler among other people from various companies. Very informative event. For starters I picked up a 10 and 21 ethos and put in my Meade LX 90 ACF and my response was WOW (even with an approximate full moon). The are truly exceptional and well worth it. If ever around this area at this time of the year you can get great deals eg discount from retail prices plus additional discounts and with some tax included. Can't wait for this weekend when we have the dark side of the moon. With appreciation for your assistance. Next the 41 paoptic and something in between.