High Power Eyepiece for Planetary Viewing

[PreludeToADream]

Hi all,

I've been quite into viewing Jupiter at the moment and I wondered what eyepiece would be best for this. I've got an 8mm Celestron X-Cel eyepiece but I was thinking of getting a 5mm eyepiece. The two I've been looking at are the BST Explorer (1.25" 5mm BST Explorer Dual ED eyepiece | eBay) and the TS Planetary HR (Eyepieces @ Modern Astronomy). Both seem to have been given good reviews so I'm a bit unsure as to which to get. Any advice?

[Damo636]

I would think they would perform pretty similarly. The BST gets recommended a lot on here so a lot of folk must be happy with them.

[Mark at Beaufort]

I have certainly used the TS Planetary HR EPs in the past and they were OK. I would not go above 5mm because it use would be limited to the better nights. I have a 3mm-6mm nagler and its the 6mm element that I use the most unless I am going for high mag to split doubles.

Last night viewing Jupiter with my 10" Dob was either the 8mm Ethos or the 6mm part of the zoom.

Mark

[damnut]

Hi Preludetoadream,

If you have a decent 8mm as a keeper ep, you may be better off in buying a good quality Barlow shifting the 8mmm to a 4mm.. If i am right that your scope has a 650mm fl then the 8mm + Barlow would yield 162.5x and a 5mm would yield 130x.

Both those mags at the high end of mag for your scope, (yes theoretical is 260x). So when you come to sell your scope on you keep the Celestron ep & your quality barlow for your new 200p :-)..

[crazyjedi]

I have a Meade 5000 5.5mm and it is good but only on very stable clear nights. I tend to use my 12mm TV Radian more often. They do Rad's in shorter focal lengths too (down to 3mm I think) so they may be worth a try. They're quite expensive as TV are generally. I got mine second hand for a little over a hundred quid and It's one of my most used EP's

[nicnac]

Xcel LX is a big improvement on the bog standard Xcel

[johninderby]

Xcel LX is a big improvement on the bog standard Xcel

I'll second that

Dumb move though for Celestron to call the new eyepiece an X-Cel when it's a completely new and far superior design instead of giving it a new name.

John

[AndyH]

And I'll second your comment, John.

Too much potential confusion.

[ronin]

Have the TMB and the BST in 5mm variants.

Find the BST the better of the two.

[PreludeToADream]

Might go for the BST then. I'm tempted to get a good quality Barlow for my 8mm. Could I get something reasonable for about £50?

[ronin]

For a barlow the Tal 2x barlow is the one that gets good reviews for the price.

Actually consideered so good that getting hold of one is a slight problem, they get sold out pretty quick. Also add in the Tal do not seem to have a large turnover.

Ask FLO about availability, also try RVO, Sherwood's and Green Witch (they have a shop around the south of Leeds now).

[PreludeToADream]

Would using my 8mm and getting a 2X Barlow be a better option then rather than getting.a 5mm eyepiece?

[ronin]

Should be OK as long as the 2x is decent. The 8mm you have is good so that will not bring the image down, just make sure the barlow is decent. For this the Tal should be fine.

A total of 4mm is not too much for the scope, would give 162x more or less.

[rwilkey]

I would go for the 5mm BST Explorer, seeing conditions at the moment really won't let you go much above this mag. Agree with getting a good barlow, but I would rather go for the ep unless you go for both. A good barlow will always come in handy for any ep focal length.

[PreludeToADream]

I'm leaning towards getting the 5mm BST eyepiece right now. I might give FLO a call and see when I could get hold of a Tal barlow. Thanks for all the advice.

[ronin]

The barlow and the BST 5mm is actually sensible, know that the result would be 4mm and 5mm but it is amazing how often that 1mm difference is useful.

In plossls I have a 5mm and a 6mm and find that when the 5mm is too much the 6mm is OK.

Mind you the 5mm BST is good in the scope when the 5mm plossl isn't.

Welcome to the world of eyepiece collecting. Gets worse when you debate an eyepiece now for what scope you might buy in the future.