Need Eyepiece Advice!

[i Drew]

I've had my Nexstar 6se for a few months now and I still have my 25mm that came with the telescope and the 12.5mm plossl I bought from Orion. Now that I am very familiar with my telescope I've decided to start investing on accessories, first on my list of course are really good eyepieces. I have a budget of $1k and I'm wondering if it's really worth investing on those high end expensive eyepiece like TeleVue? if so, what would be a good type of eyepiece should I buy? Thank you in advance!

Drew

[nightfisher]

I would suggest some orthoscopic eyepiece`s for planetary

[i Drew]

I would suggest some orthoscopic eyepiece`s for planetary

thank you! can you suggest any particular brand? How about for deep sky objects, what would be ideal? I just want to make sure I don't regret spending my budget properly. I'm thinking i can get two to three eyepiece.

[olander08]

If you live in the US, you should definitely check out the Explore Scientific eyepieces. Most retailers are having a sale until August, so it might be wize to act sooner rather than later.

I picked up the 9, 14 and 20mm of the 100 degree series and a 4.7mm of the 82 degree series for $1k, which I believe will suit me well. Unfortunately, two of the eyepieces turned out to be faulty and had to be sent back, but I've used the 14 and 20mm and I'm very pleased.

It should be noted that there are multiple accounts detailing the minuscule differences of the TeleVue Ethos and the Explore Scientific 100 degree range, despite the massive price difference.

[i Drew]

Would a Baader Hyperion Zoom be a good addition or Celestron Zoom comparable?

[olander08]

If you decide to get the ES100 degree series I don't think you'd ever find any use for the Hyperion Zoom or any equivalent zoom. This is due to the fact that the apparent field of view is significantly smaller, as well as the fixed focal length EPs being, generally, of higher quality than zooms.

Now, I haven't tried the Hyperion Zoom or any other eyepiece than the standard 10 and 25mm that you get with Skywatcher OTAs and the above mentioned ES EPs, but I did do a substantial amount of research before deciding to buy the ES EPs. Even if I wasn't lucky enough to pay no shipping fees or tax duties (a relative brought them home), I still would've gone for the same EPs that I, in the end, went for.

Even though my experience is rather limited, I highly doubt (and please correct me if I'm wrong) that you could get anything better for $1k than the ES100 series coupled with an 82 degree 4.7mm.

[username]

When looking to expand your eyepiece collection so you have the absolute minimum regardless of budget I don't think you can go wrong with Warthogs guide here

His guidelines there makes sure you have a nice range that will suit a variety of targets.

What you want to spend is up to you ; I just point you to that thread so if you are going to by premium pieces you spend well.

Another point to consider is do you wear glasses? Or if you don't need them how comfortable do you find your 12.5mm plossl? Would you like your eye further away from the eyepiece? This will also determine the sort of eyepiece that suits you.

[LukeSkywatcher]

Would a Baader Hyperion Zoom be a good addition or Celestron Zoom comparable?

The Hyperion zoom works great with my 8SE, so forgetting all else................this would be a one stop shop for the scope.

If the zoom is too costly................then i can only say that an 8,15,30mm Vixen NPL will also do a great job.

Total cost..................about £100. for 3 great EPs.

[cs1cjc]

Explore Scientific is the brand to look for. I think you may be limited to 1.25" eyepieces so I would suggest the 25mm 68, 16mm 68 and 8.7mm 82, as a start, but it does depend on what you want to observe.

[alan potts]

Are Tele-vue and Pentax worth the money, a question that only you can answer once you have owned one. If you were to buy a 24mm Panoptic to relpace your stanard EP then you would see things that were not there before and all razor sharp. The 24mm Pan is amoung the best Ep's ever made. Pentax also make some excellent Ep's as good as TV, some would say a touch better at some focal lengths but with a smaller FOV and more costly than most Naglers.

I am in the process of sorting my Ep's out and all will be changed for Tele-vue, that's how good I think they are. I would try one top end Ep just so you know what your scope can do. A little down the line are Meade and Explore Sc, which are also top quality and a little more kind to the pocket. I would try to buy Second/Hand that way you protect your investment, almost all astronomer look after things, it the nature of the hobby. The better quality gear is always more salable if you move on to something else.

But to take the point of an earlier post, try an Orthoscopic from Baader, not expensive and now I have had a look through one can say razor sharp. The only downsides are eye relief and FOV.

Over all the thing you have that I don't have are loads of out-lets to buy from, make the most of them. The choice is yours.

Alan.

[E621Keith]

Televue and Pentax are the best. Then followed by explore scientific.

A C6 is a f10 scope and is quite tolerant to eyepiece defects and as such it will be even harder to tell the difference between tv and es.

I recommed Vixen LVW in addition to those already mentioned.

Note, C6 has a 1.25" baffle tube so using 2" eyepieces in the C6 will result in vignetting in the outer field.

[Capricorn]

For a 6SE I would do the simple option and go for the TV plossl's - assumes that the shorter eye relief is not a problem.

The ES and expensive TV's are good however my opinion is that their advantages are at the faster scopes and the 6SE is not fast so why pay out for an aspect that you will not need or meet.

Another set to consider is the Astro-Tech Paradigms from Astronomics, I have the equivalent of those and use then on a Meade 105 with great success. At $60 a piece and 6 in the set you could get the lot for about $400 total.

The simple green presentation of the TV Plossl's are nice however.

[i Drew]

Thank you for the response everyone, I do have to mention that although I wear contact lense my astigmatism does get in the way when looking through an eyepiece. So eye relief is a thing to really consider for me. It seems like I would rather invest on a TV, I don't mind getting 1 or 2 for now, i just have to decide which type (plossl, nagler or Radian).

[Mr Moff]

The thing I did was to buy a tv plossl 25mm to see how good the view was. It was excellent and then I knew it was worth me investing in an ethos.

Once you try a little green it's hard to go back.

[Capricorn]

That is a problem with the little green devils. :evil4:

Once you get one it is a long slippery downhill and expensive slide. :help:

But great fun. :blob10:

[faulksy]

as said bgo,s cant be beaten for high power. also consider the sky watcher nirvanas nagler performance rated higher than e.s.

[E621Keith]

Thank you for the response everyone, I do have to mention that although I wear contact lense my astigmatism does get in the way when looking through an eyepiece. So eye relief is a thing to really consider for me. It seems like I would rather invest on a TV, I don't mind getting 1 or 2 for now, i just have to decide which type (plossl, nagler or Radian).

If eye relief is important to you, you should definitely consider Pentax XW and Vixen LVW. Both have 20mm eye relief, which is longer than any 1.25" eyepieces in the TV line except Radian and Delos. With the exception of Delos and Radians, all 1.25" TV have less than 15mm eye relief.

Baader Hyperion have 20mm eye relief too and definitely worth considering for a C6.

[andrew63]

Thank you for the response everyone, I do have to mention that although I wear contact lense my astigmatism does get in the way when looking through an eyepiece. So eye relief is a thing to really consider for me. It seems like I would rather invest on a TV, I don't mind getting 1 or 2 for now, i just have to decide which type (plossl, nagler or Radian).

Most of the above recommendations have limited eye relief - so you can forget ES most naglers UWAN orthos and plossl below 15mm - still lost of choice left though ! The radian would be a good option, and with your telescope at F10 hyperions would also be a good cheaper option.

andrew

[alan potts]

Keith,

2 good points, I aways forget the Vixen range, it's because I don't know anyone who has one and I have never used one. Suppose to be goo as far as I read.

I also didn't know about the 2 inch eyepieces in this scope

Alan.

]

[Dunkster]

The 6SE is a great scope

If you're OK with the eye relief of the 12.5 plossl you'll be fine with the ES... ES are a bit optimistic, and they're a little cosy but not uncomfortable. I have several ES82 (see sig ) and they're great with the 6SE and no slouch in the C11 either! Given the sale in the US, it's pretty inexpensive to try them too.

Depending on your choice of targets, I'd probably get ES82 in 11 and 8.8mm, possibly 6.7 too but you may want to try an ortho as suggested above or a Pentax XF. For wider field, how about an ES68 argon? A review on CN pitches the ES68 up against Panoptics and SWA and they all did well.

Btw I use a 2 inch SCT diagonal for extra rigidity, as I didn't want my sole Nagler hitting the deck. It's a beautiful combination but you achieve the same FOV with ES68/Panoptic/SWA at 24mm 1.25 inch.

[alan potts]

Dunkster,,

I guess you like Ex Sc eyepieces?

Alan.

[Dunkster]

I guess you like Ex Sc eyepieces?

LOL I might say I like them so far. I've had my scope just under a year, you could say I'm new at this and the upcoming season we all hope for (after the dreadful weather we've had these past months) will be my first season post-upgrades. I research my purchases beforehand, nothing is random, but I'm also curious and open to experiment when the numbers add up, fully appreciating the risks. We'd all like a fleet of TV or Pentax, but realities of life call for compromise... but not necessarily devoid of guilty pleasure!

I paid Hyperion money for my ES82s and they give a nice wide FOV. In the current US sale they are less than I paid. For the price, I'd be happy going in knowing I was getting 75% of the performance of a Nagler. Many accounts over the pond say they're more than that, and that they're bedfellows with the Nirvana/UWAN/UWA, nearly-Naglers?

Counting moons of Saturn in an 82 degree FOV was really something for me! In what limited viewing I've had so far with my C11, notably on clusters, they've also performed well, but I hope to get some more objective viewing in before cluster season is over.

I don't doubt that if I had a faster scope (my SCTs are f/10) it might be different, and with more experience it might be possible to spot the differences and really want the TVs, but as they are they work great in the 6SE and $1k is a lot of green for accessories and even a handful of ES gives you plenty left over for other things

[i Drew]

Ok initially I considered getting the Delos but since a lot of recommendation on ES was made I decided to fork $100++ and tried out the 14mm I got it yesterday and tested it out for a bit and I am blown away considering the light pollution and the weather last night it gave me a very nice clear view of Albireo, tried it on the moon as well and it was just awesome, the 15mm eye relief is just right for me. I'm glad I got it. Wow two thmbs up!

Now here's my conondrum, I would still like to get a low power ep and get a higher power ep. Since i've decided to get a 2" diagonal for my 6se my question is how low low power can I go (6mm or 8mm?) and how high a high power eyepiece (32 or 40mm?) I should go with my scope?

Appreciate it!

[John]

A 20mm 82 degree eyepiece will have a field stop the same size as the aperture at the rear of your C6 so that's about as low / wide as I'd go with your scope. I think you have confused low and high power by the way - the 6mm / 8mm will be the high powers and the longer focal length eyepieces, the low powers. With a 6" scope I guess 250x would be around the max useful on a good night so thats a 6mm eyepiece. It would be good to have a 7mm too for when the conditions don't allow such high power.

Most eyepieces work well in F/10 scopes so the benefits from the additional investment in things like Naglers / Ethos / Delos etc will not be justified unless you are really fussy. If you owned a scope of F/5 or faster then things are different .......

[i Drew]

A 20mm 82 degree eyepiece will have a field stop the same size as the aperture at the rear of your C6 so that's about as low / wide as I'd go with your scope. I think you have confused low and high power by the way - the 6mm / 8mm will be the high powers and the longer focal length eyepieces, the low powers. With a 6" scope I guess 250x would be around the max useful on a good night so thats a 6mm eyepiece. It would be good to have a 7mm too for when the conditions don't allow such high power.

Most eyepieces work well in F/10 scopes so the benefits from the additional investment in things like Naglers / Ethos / Delos etc will not be justified unless you are really fussy. If you owned a scope of F/5 or faster then things are different .......

Thanks, yes i got the low and high the other way around