Jupiter through a Celestron X-Cel LX 7mm

[Rorth72]

Bought myself my first decent eyepiece, a Celestron X-Cel LX 7mm a few weeks ago from Harrison Telescopes. It's been cloudy nearly every night since! lol

But tonight it was clear, 17.5 degrees celsius at 10pm in nearly October?? Well, anyway, I take my 250PX out on the patio and get Jupiter in my viewfinder. I put my 25mm lens in, and think wow.. can make out the cloud belts and the four moons. Then pop in the 10mm, even better and can just about make out the GRS! So, for the first time I put in the Celestron X-Cel LX 7mm and wow wow wow, what a nice jump up from the standard 10mm that comes with the scope. And such a lovely eye relief too. Jupiter was quite a bit bigger, and even the moons looked like moons! Could see they were spherical, not just points of light! Amazing, I was blown away! Could see they were different sizes too.. wow. And the cloud belts were so much better detailed! One darker than the other and the GRS could be seen easily, well, I think that is what it was.. definitely a spot in the bottom belt.

I tried the x-cel LX then on a few stars but not nearly as impressive, the 25mm seemed better, is this because the 7mm is designed for just planetary work? Also, does anyone know what the adjustment is for on the eyepeice, is it for fine focusing?

Oh, and just as I was packing up I was unscrewing the LX eyepeice and it fell on the floor, concrete floor! grr.. But looked at it, not a single mark on it. I popped it back into the scope to check it was ok and it was functioning normally! My heart was in my mouth when it dropped.

After viewing Jupiter I had a scout around and took in Andromeda and M45 with my bins. A very nice evening indeed!

Can't wait for darker longer nights

[onesmallstep]

Mars is coming into good viewing territory in October!

[John]

I tried the x-cel LX then on a few stars but not nearly as impressive, the 25mm seemed better, is this because the 7mm is designed for just planetary work? Also, does anyone know what the adjustment is for on the eyepeice, is it for fine focusing?....

Glad you are enjoying your new eyepiece - the X-Cel LX's seem to get great reviews

In what way was the view of stars through the X-Cel LX not impressive ? - stars should appear as points of light in whatever eyepiece you use.

The adjustment is to move the eye cup up and down. It helps you find a position that suits you best and that gives you the whole field of view without any blackouts or other effects.

[Rorth72]

Hmm, I just couldn't seem to get it to focus down into one tiny point of light, it was nearly there but not,quite. Also obviously you get a nice wide field of view in the 25mm. Think it was because I have a fast scope? I tried it on Capella and Vega. Will give it another go tommorrow Yet the view of Jupiter was very impressive, even though it does move through the field of view quite quickly.

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[nicnac]

check your collimation pal, might be ever so slightly out

nice EPs arnt they

[MatthewC]

Sounds like you had a great night.

[Gem stone]

The first thing I ever saw through a telescope was Jupiter! It's absolutely mind blowing!

We are due for some clear skies over the next few nights so will have my bins out! Wish I had a telescope! :-(

[glowjet]

Ever thought of putting a thick piece of mat or other protective material on the ground under the ep end of your scope, especially during assembly/disassembly, could save you heartache in the future

[M4lcs67]

I had a great night also (I think everyone was out last night). Finally we have some great weather. I am in the market for a couple of new eyepieces and if you recommend the Celestron X-Cel LX I might take a look.

Luckily I haven't dropped any, but I do set my scope up on the lawn although the suggestion by Glowjet to put a thick mat under the scope does seem to be a good idea.

[Rorth72]

Well, I took the scope back out tonight for a brief observing session, but this time I checked the collimation and it was slightly out. I corrected it and then tried the xcel lx. It was even better, Jupiter and the moons were so detailed, it really gave the moons a 3d effect, hard to explain, but as I stated before, they were moons, not points of light. I done a star test, and the problem from last night has gone away, it resolved stars down to a point of light. So I am doubly happy now. I haven't tried any other eyepieces except the ones that came with the scope, so can only compare it to them, and it blows them out of the water, it's as though I have invested in a new telescope. I love it.

And to top it all off, great weather and the weekend coming up! Oh, and now I set up on the lawn too

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[umadog]

Good stuff!