Sorry, yet another EP noobie question...

[TheFurbster]

Hi everyone,

Just before Christmas I bought an old 8" (f/10?) meade SCT (the long-in-the-tooth LX10).

It came with 3 eyepieces, and a 2x barlow:

a) 26 mm plossl;

17 mm plossl;

c) 7 mm.

I mainly use the 17 (planets) and 26 (orion's nebula, pleiades etc). I haven't used the 7 mm much. It doesn't seem to be as good quality as the other two- last night I used the 17mm with the barlow (on Saturn), and it looked much better than the 7.

I've looked at the Eye Piece sticky on this forum, but am still unsure whether I should go next for a 10mm (and retire the 7), or something slightly bigger and rely on the barlow. I assume that I don't need to go bigger than the 26 yet.

Another quick question: Is it normal for the star diagonal not to have plastic caps for each end? I keep mine in a EP case, but because it's open to the environment, there is starting to be a noticable build up of dust on the glass.

Any advice would be appreciated!

Cheers,

Steve

P.S. Great forum. I'm supposed to be writing a long boring technical design document, and lurking here has been a much more interesting use of my time (just don't tell my boss!)

[The Warthog]

Consider getting a better quality 7mm, and adding something in the 12mm range. That will give you some good high powers. The f/10 scope is very forgiving of eyepiece design flaws, so you should have good viewing with any quality ep.

[Double Kick Drum]

The diagonal that came with my scope did not have end caps. The WO diagonal I now use does.

Anything that prevents dust build up is a step forward. A zip lock bag maybe for your diagonal.

[Tribal-Wolf]

A decent 7mm or even a 6mm will be an improvement if the standard ep is not up to much but it will all depend on seeing conditions. A good ep is better than an ep+barlow.

[TheFurbster]

Thanks guys for your replies.

So it looks like it might be worth me getting a replacement for the 7mm. This then leaves a gap between that and the 17mm that will need filling at some stage.

So my next task is to determine which EP to get. I've looked at the EP forum here, and like the look of the Celestron XCEL.

My question then is, as a beginner with a old basic 'scope, would paying £70/£80 provide me with a better star-gazing experience, or should I save my money and keep with a cheaper alternative?

Ironically on the other end of the scale, I'm also tempted by the Baader 8-24 zoom (especially if I will need to buy a 12mm down the line). One of the attractions is that the tracking on my scope isn't great, and with no goto, manually swapping ep's involves having to re-scan the skies... I've only bought a couple of filters and a t-ring this year, so I could probably justify it to myself (if not my wife!)

Cheers,

Steve

[Tribal-Wolf]

As you have a 26mm and a 2x barlow then you effectively have a 13mm.

[TheFurbster]

TribalWolf,

Thanks, yep, that's true. Maybe getting a zoom then would be overkill.

Although I like the idea of using the zoom for photography. My early attempts have been connecting the dslr straight to the scope with the barlow- I assume the zoom will give me far more options.

Cheers,

Steve

[The Warthog]

I have an 8mm X-Cel that I use as a backup for my Antares 7.5mm. I used to own three X-Cels, but I found that if you don't put your eye in exactly the right place, it kidney-beans like crazy. (Kidney-beaning is a black, bean shaped form that covers your FOV in some eps, when you don't have your eye centred.) I sold my 5mm and 12.5mm X-Cels to buy the motor for my mount. I don't recommend these eps. Like the little girl who had a little curl, when they are good, they are very very good, but when they are bad, they are horrid!