Meade WA 18mm eyepiece?

[Moonshane]

Hi all

Anyone know any background to this eyepiece? Never seen a gold one before and just wondered if it was a set of bespoke ones ordered by Orion Optics UK in the 1990s or if it's a general eyepiece? It was with a 1992 OOUK newt I just bought.

It seems like a series 4000 Plossl other than the colour.

Cheers

Shane

[John]

I purchased one of those when I was in the USA in 2000 Shane. It seemed well priced for a wide angle and well made. It worked OK in the F/10 refractor I had back then but it was nothing special. I later learned that it was from a range made specifically for the ETX 60mm and 70mm scopes. It's a modified plossl design with a 60 degree FoV. I never got to try it in a faster scope but I suspect it may show quite a lot of astigmatism in the outer parts of the FoV.

[Moonshane]

cool, thanks a lot John! funnily enough, I just concluded it must be 60 degrees having compared with with my 15mm Plossl and 10mm Radian. not sure I'll keep it as I have the bases covered that it covers.