TMB Planetary 4mm EP

[Naemeth]

So, a real change for once. Today I actually managed to not only receive my brand new eyepiece (courtesy of Alan at Sky's the Limit) today, but the weather (sort of) permitted.

First Impressions

First of all, my only prior experience with EPs were the two that came with my Heritage, so when I opened the box I was truly suprised with how big it was in comparison with my other EPs. To give you an idea here is a picture next to my two other EPs:

(The 4mm is actually about the size of a standard mug, smaller than the 22mm Ethos or 31mm Nagler of course..)

Build Quality / Weight

This just looks superb, so much so that it's made me want to complete the collection, the twist up eyecups come in handy and it gives plenty of eye relief, which means that those pesky eyelashes don't get in the way of your observing time. It was a reasonable weight to it, but it didn't overload my small scope, it still meant that (when the screw was tightened), my scope didn't overbalance.

First Light

I haven't had the best chance to use this yet, as it being Summer and various areas in my garden being blocked out, I could only see Saturn. However, even though the seeing started off poor (Saturn was bouncing all over the place), it calmed down significantly with only a few wobbles, and Saturn was bigger, noticeably so when compared to my other 10mm EP, however, I'm sure that as I get better seeing conditions, these views will only improve. In the next month or so I expect I'll get a nice view of the Moon, but Jupiter is going to have to wait, fortunately I'll have this wonderful EP in my kit when it finally re-appears.

[NGC 1502]

Always exciting when new kit arrives, but you are on the slippery slope of eyepiece upgrade

Hope you get some more viewing soon, lots of double/multiple stars are well seen in our light June skies.

Regards, Ed.

[Dunkster]

Nice one Naemeth! I've had my best views of Saturn with my TMB (v2), some nights it's futile but some nights just soaking up the view gives moments of good seeing and you can really see the difference

[Naemeth]

Jupiter certainly did have to wait, read the report here:

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/159451-jupiter-at-345am/