eyepiece advise please.

[yeoboy]

I got a Celestron 80mm ED last week it has a 25mm eyepiece, I want to have more magnification, Looking at Jupiter it doesnt seem to offer much more than my 10x50 Binos,I realize that the 25mm gives me x24 so cant decide if I should get maybe a 10mm plossl or a barlow, Any advise please.

[John]

Hi and welcome to the forum !

Your scope will deliver a more magnification than your 25mm eyepiece provides. You could think about getting a 10mm eyepiece plus a 2x barlow lens. That would give you 60x and 120x to add to your current 24x.

You would probably need to budget around £80 to get these two items of decent quality.

[LukeSkywatcher]

I agree. With a 10mm EP and a 2x you will have:

25mm,12.5mm,10mm and 5mm.

[E621Keith]

Welcome to the forum.

What's your budget?

I find 3mm TV Radian works really well for Jupiter on my 80mm apo (160x), so I'd recommend one. Pentax 8-24mm zoom with Meade 2x teleXtender also worked well.

Do you wear glasses when you observe? The eye relief on plossl below 15mm are too short for glasses wearer.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

10mm seems a good idea, but getting a long eye relief design (such as the TMB Planetaries or Vixen NLVs) is essential if you wear glasses.

[yeoboy]

I do wear glasses, I imagine you cant adjust the eyepiece like on cameras,Sorry guy`s on a big learning curve, I knew i had not chosen the most ideal scope for looking at Jupiter or Saturn but i didnt expect to see the bands on Jupiter, I would be happy to see the moons and perhaps Saturn and rings, Am starting to learn a bit tho.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

An 80 ED can show that, no worries, and a lot more besides.

[Capricorn]

Buy the 5mm and the 8mm BST Explorers. Reasonable eye relief, adjustable eyecups and good performance.

Start with the 8mm, if getting one at a time.

For mid range get the 12mm later.

With an ED80 you will see the moons of Jupiter and the bands easily. Saturn should also come up well. The eyepieces above show me the bands of jupiter and the moons very well on a smaller (achro) then you have at a quite small magnification.

[E621Keith]

Since you wear glasses, you should choose an eyepiece with long eye relief. Here is a list of long eye relief eyepieces to suit various budget

£50 will get you a BST explorer or Celestron X-cel

I have no experience with the BST, but the 10mm X-cel has rather weak coating. Reflections is a problem on high contrast objects (e.g. planets) and the coating dissolves in some lens cleaning fluids.

£70 will get you a William Optics SPL, which is said to be very good

£95 will get you a Baader Hyperion

£120 will get you a Pentax XF which are said to be as good as TV Radians

£175 will get you a TeleVue Radians, although you can find used ones at around £100

£200 will get you a Vixen LVW

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Since you wear glasses, you should choose an eyepiece with long eye relief. Here is a list of long eye relief eyepieces to suit various budget

£50 will get you a BST explorer or Celestron X-cel

I have no experience with the BST, but the 10mm X-cel has rather weak coating. Reflections is a problem on high contrast objects (e.g. planets) and the coating dissolves in some lens cleaning fluids.

£70 will get you a William Optics SPL, which is said to be very good

£95 will get you a Baader Hyperion

£120 will get you a Pentax XF which are said to be as good as TV Radians

£175 will get you a TeleVue Radians, although you can find used ones at around £100

£200 will get you a Vixen LVW

And then there are the TV Delos 6 and 10mm

[perrin6]

I wear glasses but have always taken them off to look through the eyepiece. This means I have to put them back on when I need to look directly at the sky when pointing the scope but I just feel more comfortable without specs for actual observation. Apart from comfort I suppose extra glass between me and a faint object is going to reduce how much I can see, especially with those just on the verge of visibility.

[yeoboy]

A lot of usefull ( and appreciated) info guys,I had looked thro the 25 without my glasses and didn't find any difference tbh,Not sure how 'eye relief' is determined but which Barlow should I consider,I spend a lot of time on Isle of Skye and can't wait to get scanning there in about 10 days time,Thanks for info

[hes not well again]

Sky eh. I was on Mull last week and the sky was spectaculer. Big moon tho

[E621Keith]

A lot of usefull ( and appreciated) info guys,I had looked thro the 25 without my glasses and didn't find any difference tbh,Not sure how 'eye relief' is determined but which Barlow should I consider,I spend a lot of time on Isle of Skye and can't wait to get scanning there in about 10 days time,Thanks for info

The main reason to wear glasses when observing is to correct for astigmatism. If you don't have any, then you won't need it. Near/Far sight can be corrected by re-focusing your telescope.

As for Barlows, the Tal Barlows are really well received, but it's out of stock at the moment. Celestron Ultima is also quite good.

The Meade 2x TeleXtender and it's really nice, but it seems to be out of stock everywhere.

Then there are the premium Televue barlows and powermates. They are good but expensive.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I keep my glasses on during observation due to astigmatism. Regarding Barlows, the Meade Series 5000 TeleXtenders are now available under the Bresser brand. Maybe because a series 6000 is under way from Meade. I can vouch for the 2x and 3x TeleXtenders, they are very good.

[yeoboy]

I contacted Alan at TSTL and have an 8mm BST on the way, Cant wait to train on Jupiter, What a nice guy at TSTL.