Need a new eyepiece

[Aims]

Hi,

I'm new to this forum so I'm really sorry if you get bombarded with questions simillar to these a lot. I got my Dob skywatcher 200P at Christmas and I really do love it more than I can describe! However, I would like to see the planets in more detail-currently I can only make out Jupiter's moons and the other planets appear as bright dots through my eyepiece.

Unfortunately being a GCSE student my budget is rather limited, however it was my birthday the other week which I recieved £100 in total from all my relatives which I want to spend on a decent eye piece otherwise I'll just waste it

Thanks.

[nightfisher]

I would suggest an 8mm BST explorer from Alan at skies the limit, or the celestron x-cel lx 7mm from FLO

[ronin]

Will agree about the BST's, may be sold as StarGuider's (they had to have a name change). People have used them in 200P's and they seem to be good and work well.

If the scope is f/6 the 8mm will be good giving 150x. The 5mm offering will give 240x and you may not use it too often. Depends on the collimation of the scope and the atmospheric conditions.

Eyepieces are always a problem, you simply may not like the same as others. Factors like eye relief come into it.

By budget (and mentioned here on SGL) you have:

Vixen NPL's Plossl's at £30

TMB Planetary's at £36

BST/StarGuider's at £47

Celestron X-Cels at £69

[rwilkey]

+1 for the BST Explorer/StarGuiders, excellent ep's for the price, and they work well in fast scopes and have good eye-relief.

[scuffer]

Hello Aims , what eyepieces have you already got ? I got a 25mm and a 10mm with my 200p dob.Can you see Jupiter itself ? The planets should be seen better than dots . I agree with buying new eyepieces and I'm not yet experienced enough to recommend any but I'm just concerned about your description. , if indeed you can only see dots is your finder lined up correctly ?

[DOBBY]

Hi Aims.. & welcome to the forum

The 8mm BST would be my idea of a good planetary eyepiece for a manual Dob...& the 18mm or 25mm BST for DSO's... Total price inc. postage..£94

[sam mayo]

is the bst better tha the xcel for a 250 dob

[sam mayo]

i want a collection of one type i like uniformity lol so don't know which brand to use there are a 7mm xcel and a bst 8mm on here 4 sale so a bit confused but want both :huh:

[Moonshane]

I use this scope for my Primary School's astro club. I have a cheap used 2x barlow and a cheap used 15mm plossl and combined these provided excellent views of Jupiter last season. You'd need spend no more than half of your cash and could spend the other half on a good star map and maybe a red dot finder.

[knobby]

Or a Celestron exel Lx 7mm and a cheshire ... incase collimation is causing the poor viewing of planets ... and don't forget to cool it for an hourish !(which costs nothing and will improve your viewing more than a £100 E.P.)

[wookie1965]

The BST have a range theres a 5,8,12 15, 18 and 25 mm all you need well maybe a 32 but you can buy a ploosl for that like i did.

[pvaz]

Personally I really like orthoscopic EPs. They are as sharp (or even sharper) as any top EP for a fraction of the price. I got most of my Baader Genuine Orthos 2nd hand mint for 50 each. They do have a small field of view, so you'll have to nudge your scope more often, and short eye relief (won't work with glasses). If those are a problem then the BSTs will be a better option, they are more comfortable to use and nearly as sharp as an ortho.

Collimation and cool down are very important at high mags, as said above.

I also recommend you take a look at this review before making your mind. Not suggesting this EPs but it will allow you to understand the differences between EP types. It was after reading this I decided to get some Orthos.

http://www.cloudynights.com/item.php?item_id=1935