Deep Sky: best eyepiece?

[Cloudsurfer]

Being new to deep sky observing, I was wondering what a good eyepiece would be for me for deep sky observing. There's a wealth of eyepieces available out there which can be confusing to a beginner like me.

From what I understand, I need a low power (25mm+ ?) piece with a large field of view (60°+ ?).

Now, there are dozens of eyepieces to choose from, ranging from 26mm to 40mm in various view fields and various brands (I expect to be able to use for instance a Meade eyepiece in my Skywatcher scope?).

To keep a long story short, which eyepiece would I benefit from the most with my Skywatcher Explorer 130p scope for deep sky viewing?

[John]

Welcome to SGL !.

Does your scope accept 2" fitting eyepieces ?.

If so, that will increase your choice although the cost will increase as well. Do you have a budget by the way ?.

PS: I should also have asked if you already have some eyepieces, if so, what focal lengths ?.

[ronin]

I don't think it is as easy as "What eyepiece?"

If you go observing M42 Orion Nebula then with it being about 1 degree in size I would say go for something that would give say a 2 degree view, get it all in with a bit to spare. So in general about 25x mag.

However if you are looking for something like M1, Crab Nebula, then 25x would show little more then a dim dot. 150x-200x may show more.

Both are DSO's both require something completely different.

In general a long focal length EP gives wide views and makes it easier to locate objects, then to view the observer pushes the magnification up until what they are looking at is of sufficent size to be a meaningful image.

So what do you want the EP for? Locating or looking at?

[umadog]

Quite a few DSOs take higher powers well, so it's not as simple as saying "low power."

A wider apparent field of view eyepiece will probably be more pleasing for DSO views, as it will frame the object better. A well-made eyepiece with about 60 to 70 degree apparent field of view will look substantially nicer than a Plossl. There are a lot of choices in that range. You can get wider fields, but you'll pay more.

[Cloudsurfer]

Yes, my scope takes both 2" and 1,25" EP's so I think I have a large choice.

I also already have a 10mm piece (65x), 25mm wide piece (26x) and a barlow adapter. I personally prefer the 25mm piece for scanning and viewing because of its wide viewing angle. The 10mm is very narrow and not very pleasant to use with glasses (you really need to press down hard on the eye relief to see anything).

So if some DSO's actually require more magnification it would be wiser to invest in a high power EP?

[umadog]

One option is to replace the 10 mm with something more useful, which you'd actually use. I reckon something in 10 mm to 8 mm range would probably suit. Remember that if the eyepiece has a larger apparent field, that will also increase the true field.

I'm shooting from the hip a little here, but the Celestron Ultima 8 mm may be the sort of thing you're after. 16 mm of eye relief and a 70 degree field. I've never looked through one, so I can't vouch for the views. Those will set you back around 150 quid. The 10 mm Radians are nice (I have one) and have 20 mm of eye relief and a 60 degree field. They're more expensive, though (175 quid at telescope house). Nice eyepieces.

A possibility that I've recommended before on these fora is to order an Explore Scientific 82 degree AFOV from the US. They're on sale right now and even if you get stung with import duty you will still save a packet. Those eyepieces give you performance close to a Nagler for well under half the price.

Explore Scientific 82° Nitrogen Purged Products - OPT Telescopes

There's an 8.8 mm to be had for about 75 quid. They really are the bargain of decade when comes to eyepieces. I own the 14 mm and use it often. The 18 mm may also be good for you: it'll give you a slightly higher power than your 26 mm and probably also a wider *true* field of view (which is pretty cool). Al Nagler himself got confused between the Ethos and the ES 100 degree when performing a side by side viewing comparison at a star party.

[rwilkey]

Depending on your budget, I would recommend the 32mm SW Panaview, a good sharp ep that really delivers, it is my most used ep and great for deep sky wide views, at £79 you'll never regret it: First Light Optics - Skywatcher PanaView 2" eyepieces

[cyborg421]

I agree with rWilkey, it's a keeper.

SImon

[Bart]

I agree with Umadog,

I just received a 14mm Explore Scientific 82 degree EP to go with my new 10" Dob and it is fantastic. I was blown away. Great view and very easy to use, good eye relief. I'm having to hold myself back from going and ordering another one in from the US

[umadog]

Ah good! Glad you liked it.

[Bart]

Yes, its a dinger, full moon first chance to use it and the 10" Dob, at x90 the full moon almost filled the FOV. The detail was stunning , I loved it., Almost went back inside to ask my wife to have a look, Then re-thought it ......... Lovely EP. Can't wait to use it with no moon, I'm sure I'll have to consider the 11mm

Bart

[coffee_prince]

What kind of import tax are you getting, as with my calculations with customs and tax it makes the ES82 eps not far off the price of the WO UWANs UK price, which are already nagler like in performance.

[umadog]

Import duty on such goods isn't more than VAT, is it? In which case you're looking at 90 quid for 14 mm and shorter focal length Explore Scientifics. Plus any postage, of course. I thought the WO were just north of 150 quid.

The ES 82 degrees have a wider selection of focal lengths and slightly longer eye relief. Hower, the lens is recessed a little way so so some of that eye relief is wasted if one is wearing glasses. The WO don't have that problem. ES also have the 100 degree eyepieces: at 150 quid the 9 mm is sorely tempting me right now.

[John]

£150 will buy a nice used Nagler 9mm. They tend to get looked after by their owners and really are very Nagler-like in performance

[coffee_prince]

Delivery is a minimum of around £35 (so you'd save money if you bought 3+ eps at once), and there is a handling charge of around £8-16. VAT is 20%, so it all adds up. The 6.7m will cost £88 alone ignoring any charges,m which wil most certaily push it to £110+

I was thinking about the Nirvanas or WO, the Nirvanas can be had for £130 brand new right now

-

edit - haven't seen to many used naglers around, November payday I will have a really nice budget, just very itchy right now to buy

[John]

Naglers come up quite frequently on the UK Astro Buy & Sell website but also sell pretty quickly if the price is right. One of the advantages in buying a decent used Tele Vue eyepiece is that, if you decide it's not for you or you would like to move onto something else, you can usually get back what you paid for it. There always seems to be a demand for them.

[umadog]

Ah, I hadn't realised there were so many charges in getting an eyepiece out. I figured there would be some postage since it's going abroad, but some of those dealers post free within the US so I assumed the postage would be more reasonable. I'm curious how you get 88 quid for the 6.7 mm, though: it costs 100 bucks so it should about 62 quid.

[coffee_prince]

£88 is the cost including delivery. Plus you will get hammered with VAT, customs excise charge and a parcelforce handling charge. Apparently when they charge they often use the insured amount (or total amount including shipping cost as value!), rather than the actual cost of the item itself.

One time I bought a watch for $100 and the delivery option automatically insured up to $250 so they valued item at $250 rather than $100 and charged me more.

On the other hand you might not. I havent ordered anything for years, but back then I was only ever hit twice by charges, but all those purchases were from eBay, not from businesses that need to declare and insure package etc.

[umadog]

Oh, I see. I hadn't realised there were so many charges. I'd only ever bought cheap stuff from the US (books and cacti) before so it came through with no fuss or extra charges at all. I can see now that I might be different for $$$ eyepieces.

[Cloudsurfer]

Wow thanks for all the reactions! I've been doing some research myself as well. The EP thread (sticky) was also very helpful.

The ideal situation would be to buy three new EP's, or at least two if I would keep my 25mm EP as a low power piece. I don't have money to buy three new EPs at once but I can certainly spread out the purchase over several months.

According to the EP thread, my ideal setup would be (5-8mm) - (15-20mm) - (20-25mm) (I have an f/5 scope). I think I'm going to start with filling up the middle slot (+/- 18mm), since the jump from 10mm to 25mm is rather big . Since I'm on a budget, I am considering the 16mm SW ExtraFlat EP. 50 pounds (about 60 euros) sounds like a good value for this piece. Anyone have any experience with this one?

After that I am thinking about getting the Panaview. I read only positive things about this one, but I am not sure if I should go with the 26mm or 32mm version. The EP thread suggests that give or take 25mm would be ideal for an f/5 scope so I'm worried 32mm might not magnify enough. For reference, M31 and M110 were both clearly visible together in my 25mm EP.

As for high power, I'll figure that out down the road but it's probably going to be a wide angle 8 or 9mm.

Oh, and by the way, my maximum budget would be 100 euros or about 90 pounds per piece.

[rwilkey]

I have not tried the SW Extra Flat, but they look pretty good at mid-range (16mm). The 32mm Panaview gives reasonable mag for the wide field that it is, obviously the 26mm will give more, so it's down to what you want to view with it and your personal preference. I can vouch for the fact that you will not be dissappointed with the 32mm Panaview, a good sweeping sharp ep IMO.

[StevieDvd]

Oh, I see. I hadn't realised there were so many charges. I'd only ever bought cheap stuff from the US (books and cacti) before so it came through with no fuss or extra charges at all. I can see now that I might be different for $$$ eyepieces.

As a general rule of thumb the exchange rate is $1-£1 when it comes to UK prices. So something costing $500 in the US is usually £500 in the UK. Astro, photographic, computer, hi-fi all seem to follow that basis. Sometimes it can be cheaper to get it sent direct from the US even with the extra vat & customs duties.

Now you know why we have so many grumpy UK folk complaining about the cloud cover - it costs us more to have our gear unused.

[Bart]

i imported the ES 14mm from US to Ireland, it was $150 delivered= approx. €105 = £90ish, less than a Hyperion delivered, VAT should have added another €20 which i was happy to pay for the 82º ES. Turns out customs let it through no problem . Bought fair bit of stuff recently from US , no VAT, delighted, saved a fair bit

[coffee_prince]

a great escape! maybe i should try it as well but I'm unlucky with these things

[Moonshane]

as others have said, the difficulty is that everything out of the solar system is deep space. this includes double stars, wide field open clusters, globular clusters, planetary nebulae and wide or narrow reflection and emission nebulae among other things (oh yeah, galaxies too!). some of these are too big to fit in your finder let alone your scope and some need high power to resolve (or a larger aperture/dark skies).

so I'd do just what you seem to have concluded. buy three eyepieces perhaps including the ones you have and then see where your observing takes you from there before spending any further cash.

my favorite eyepiece ever is my 26mm Nagler but this is extremely expensive.