6mm eyepeice

[Madhatter]

Hi everyone i hope you are all well!

I am looking for a 6mm eye peice for around the £30 mark-not alot of cash i know-any suggestions? i already have the celestron X-Cel 10mm, would a 5mm one from flo be any good instead? im just looking for more magnification.

Also, the lense you look through, im looking for it to be nice and big, not a small hole that needs a squinted eye, does that make scence and is there a technical term for this?

PS. i made a short video of the moon!, can anyone reccomend where i should post it? here? imaging? the lounge? im really not to sure where to put it.

Clear skys!

[onesmallstep]

The Celestron 10mm plus Barlow would give the same magnification as a 5mm ep

[Madhatter]

Thats true , and partly why i wanted a 6 mm, because i do have a 2x meade barlow! and using that and the 10mm the views of the moon and jupiter are still crystal clear still so really looking for more magnification:)

[onesmallstep]

6mm is designed for planetary viewing so either buy one OR get a 3x Barlow that can be used with all of your eyepieces and offers the increased mags you are looking for.

[Astro Imp]

Have you considered the SW 6mm UWA. I haven't tried this EP but have the 9mm and find it excellent for the money.

Rother Valley Optics stock the range Here.

HTH.

[Madhatter]

That EP looks good Astro Imp! price is right too, does the ultra wide stand for the size of the lense?

a 3x barlow is also a good idea, i will look into prices of those.

[onesmallstep]

First Light Optics - Tal 2x and 3x Barlows

[Madhatter]

Great reviews on those too! hmmm choices,choices

[onesmallstep]

I picked up my 3x barlow on a trade stand during 2009's SPA conference. Good quality and great views!

[John]

The Skywatcher UWA's are great in F/7 scopes or slower but I'm not sure that I'd recommend them in your F/4.7 250PX - the outer 40% of the field of view (which is 66 degrees so Wide Angle rather than Ultra WA really) will not show stars as pinpoints - more like tiny seagulls !.

6mm is a really useful focal length in a 10" 1200mm focal length scope though - I use that much more than 240x (5mm eyepiece) in my 10" Orion Optics newtonian.

Personally I'd think, given that you would like a decent sized eye lens, a comfortable amount of eye relief, that the TMB Planetaries or the BST Explorers might be a better bet than a Skywatcher UWA.

Bear in mind that, while it can be used with a number of eyepieces, a decent quality barlow lens will set you back as much as a decent quality eyepiece.

[Madhatter]

Thank you jahmanson, i will look into those two eps

I have heard a lot of good reports about both of those!

At the moment i only have a 12.5mm, a 10mm, and a 2x barlow. Do you think i would be better served buying a 6mm TMB/BST or a 3x barlow?.

[John]

At the moment i only have a 12.5mm, a 10mm, and a 2x barlow. Do you think i would be better served buying a 6mm TMB/BST or a 3x barlow?.

In my opinion, a 6mm eyepiece. The 3x barlow will deliver too much power to be really useful with either the 12.5mm and 10mm eyepieces.

You really need some lower power eyepieces too you know !.

[Nillchill]

Have you considered the SW 6mm UWA. I haven't tried this EP but have the 9mm and find it excellent for the money.

Rother Valley Optics stock the range Here.

HTH.

I've got the 6mm and 9mm version of these and they are great eyepieces for the money, the eye relief is excellent and image has always been crisp. i have mainly used them on an SW 130 am yet to try them on my 150pl however. (Curse you damn clouds)

[Madhatter]

Ok i will go for a 6mm ep:) and yup your right, a 32mm is next on my ever growing list lol:D

[coffee_prince]

The tal barlows are always out of stock, probably because they are such good value for money, or they don't make them anymore?

Are you looking for higher magnification as you already said 10mm barlowed gives crisp images?

I've been looking at 6mm eyepieces too but I have a slightly larger budget

= 6mm Orthoscopic (too narrow for me so definitely out of the question)

= 6mm TMB

= 5mm BST Explorer

= 6mm Vixen NPL

= 6mm Vixen NLV

= 6.7mm Explore Scientific 82

= 6.7mm Meade UWA 82

= 6mm Televue Delos

[Madhatter]

yep i thought as the 10mm barlowed is still 100% crisp on the moon and jupiter it must be able to handle more magnification??

i dont mind losing a bit of clarity for extra size on jupiter:) and i am quite happy manualy tracking with the dob now.

[John]

i dont mind losing a bit of clarity for extra size on jupiter:) and i am quite happy manualy tracking with the dob now.

I'm sure your scope will handle more power than the 10mm gives although it's usually the seeing conditions that dictate what is usable and what is not.

To be honest though, I always back off the power until I can get a crisp and clear image as that is when you see the most detail and contrast in planetary features - which is what I'm after when viewing the planets

You can blow the apparent size of Jupiter's disk up really large by piling on the magnification but it will show less detail rather than more - it's rather like magnifying a newspaper picture - the scale increases but the clarity decrases.

[Madhatter]

Ah i see what you mean, that does make scence:) the funny thing is i have spotted the best detail on jupiter when i used the 10mm and 2x barlow - honestly it seemed better detail than the 10mm on its own!! it was when barlowed that i saw the GRS, though it is probably the detail though even less is easier to pic out due to the larger image?.

A 6mm EP would seem a essential EP for the collection though:) or i could get a filter of some kind for extra nebula detail mabey.

[John]

Interesting - I found it the other way around - the GRS was easier to see clearly and consistently at 180x that it was at 225x a few nights ago. This was with my 120mm ED refractor.

Different eyes under different skies, I guess

[GazOC]

I find sometimes it washes out at higher powers, lower mag can emphasize it as a darker, smaller knot of colour than higher mags.