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Hi guys,my new telescope Celestron 127 SLT maksutov has come with 25mm and 9mm,because i am new to astronomy,i don't know what it means to have these eyepieces which they come with the scope,actually this is my first telescope and i have never before watched through a telescope ever :)

So i don't know if they are good or bad eyepieces :)

And about the astroclubs which you are talking,there are no astro clubs in my surrounding,so that's OFF :)

As i saw many videos on the net and have read many threads here i should invest in some better eyepieces,and people are saying that these eyepieces are not so good,but i will still not know about the new ones what it means until i buy them....

So i have searched the net and i have read about X-Cel eyepieces,not the LX line....

I have found them that they are discounted a lot,so i was thinking to buy some of them as i saw they are 6 element eyepieces and with a good quality...

So what do you think about this ?What mm should i buy ?

They have 8mm,10mm,12.5mm,18mm and 25mm

Which one should i get ?Or should i get them all because of the discount ?As i said i already have 25mm and 9mm but again as i said i don't know what to do :S

Any help will be very appreciated

P.S i was also thinking about buying OMNI 32mm or 40mm nevermind

Thanks

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Hello,

I have a couple of the Celestron X-cel-lx and they are very good eyepieces I have the 5mm and 12mm, The eyepieces supplied are ok to start with, and have kept many of us happy for a good 6 months to a year before buying other eyepieces, however when you do upgrade to better quality you will see the difference, I would start off by using your existing eyepieces for a while to get to know which you will want to go for in the future, And when you are ready don't buy replacements for your existing ones till last, get different focal length eyepices first. A lot of people on here like the vixon NPL range and say they are very good value for money.

Hope this helps.

Kev.

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I cant praise the Vixen NPL's enough.

However my newest weapon of choice if the Hyperion 8-24mm zoom. Its expensive, yes, but when you consider that it offers you:

8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24mm ep's......................it works out pretty cheap compared to buying seventeen different EP's.

But certainly my choice of individual fixed focal length EP's would be NPL's. They compare very well to more popular choices such as BST's.

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I'm far from an expert and am about to get my first telescope after the weekend but from what i have read and taken aboard on here from all the great advice that i have come across, getting used to the scope with the supplied eyepieces seems the way to go until you find what you prefer looking through. you could end up buying a higher magnification eye piece with a narrow field of view only to find you prefer a wider field of view, or vice versa.

No doubt someone who has some experience will be able to offer some better advice but, personally, when i get my scope ill be hopefully spending a bit of time using both eyepieces to see what one i enjoy using the most and taking it from there rather than spending money on something that could have been put to better use.

Sorry its not really much else but hopefully some more experienced members will be able to offer better advice.

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I've got the SW 127 mak and struggled same as you with eyepiece choices, i ended up with a Vixen 30mm plossl and a seben 8-24mm zoom (£40 & £50 respectively)

Both are very good for my scope, not too expensive.

A william optics diagonal too.

Haven't used the 10mm, 24mm or barlow that came with the scope since apart from comparisons with the new EP's :)

With very limited clear night sky time i would say the 30mm 50degree Vixen is great for general use and DSO's but not quite enough magnification for Solar viewing

The seben is better for solar between 24mm and 18mm (sharpness drops of quickly below this) and fantastic for the moon across it's whole range (24-8mm) but not as good as the vixen for DSO's.

So, after a lot of research and deliberating i figure my next EP will be a baader hyperion 17mm for these reasons:

Not overly expensive and appear highly rated by members on these forums.

68 degree FOV (i really enjoy the 50 degree from the Vixen)

A touch more magnification for Solar viewing.

And more (i believe) usability if i 2x barlow it.

Need a lot more viewing before i decide which way to go after that...

Hope it helps...

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the only thing that i would say is the e.p.s supplied are not always that good and it can put people off the hobby due to they look through the scope and think thats rubbish is that it, especially this time of the year when planets are late rising.just take your time with it and get used to what you have. a very good planatery e.p. is the baader, either bgo or hyperion lovely views or as said the celestron x-cel

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Hello,

I have a couple of the Celestron X-cel-lx and they are very good eyepieces I have the 5mm and 12mm, The eyepieces supplied are ok to start with, and have kept many of us happy for a good 6 months to a year before buying other eyepieces, however when you do upgrade to better quality you will see the difference, I would start off by using your existing eyepieces for a while to get to know which you will want to go for in the future, And when you are ready don't buy replacements for your existing ones till last, get different focal length eyepices first. A lot of people on here like the vixon NPL range and say they are very good value for money.

Hope this helps.

Kev.

Well first of all thanks for the reply,i saw vixen npl range and honestly i prefer X-Cel compared to the price,again i'm talking about old X-cel not the new one X-cel LX,they have 6 elements against 4 of the vixen,and the difference on price is only 5eur :)

I cant praise the Vixen NPL's enough.

However my newest weapon of choice if the Hyperion 8-24mm zoom. Its expensive, yes, but when you consider that it offers you:

8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24mm ep's......................it works out pretty cheap compared to buying seventeen different EP's.

But certainly my choice of individual fixed focal length EP's would be NPL's. They compare very well to more popular choices such as BST's.

About the zoom,what's the eye relief on the hyperion ? What's the AFOV ?is it different on different magnifications ?

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I'm far from an expert and am about to get my first telescope after the weekend but from what i have read and taken aboard on here from all the great advice that i have come across, getting used to the scope with the supplied eyepieces seems the way to go until you find what you prefer looking through. you could end up buying a higher magnification eye piece with a narrow field of view only to find you prefer a wider field of view, or vice versa.

No doubt someone who has some experience will be able to offer some better advice but, personally, when i get my scope ill be hopefully spending a bit of time using both eyepieces to see what one i enjoy using the most and taking it from there rather than spending money on something that could have been put to better use.

Sorry its not really much else but hopefully some more experienced members will be able to offer better advice.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh good advice. I didnt read the full post. I totally agree with you about just using the EP's supplied with your scope, especially if you are new to astronomy. Get to know your scope and how it works and performs before rushing out to replace EP's.

I assume the scope in the opening post came with Celestron Plossl's?. They really are pretty good EP's to be honest. My 1st scope was a Celestron and it came with Kellner EP's and they were ok for a while but now i know that are pretty BAD. I soon bough a Celestron EP kit and i still have most of the EP's to this day.

My favourite EP of all time was the 32mm Plossl that came in the EP kit i bought. I like to relax and take in widefield views with my scopes and the 32mm is just the best. You may see it for sale as a 32mm GSO.

Anyways................yes..............do stick with what you have and dont worry about replacing the EP's you have.

Maybe buy a 2x barlow which will give you an EP collection of: 25..........12.5............9 and 4.5mm.

You most likely wont get to use the magnification of the 4.5mm often but most people have a 2x barlow in the collection.

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With very limited clear night sky time i would say the 30mm 50degree Vixen is great for general use and DSO's but not quite enough magnification for Solar viewing

You are correct. The Sun in our sky is the same size as the Moon (thats why total eclipses happen). If you look at the Moon with a 30mm EP you really will not see too much detail (per say), so observing the Sun with a 30mm EP will also be as unrewarding.

To see sunspots, you would want to use an EP of around 8mm....................much the same as if you wanted to really see detail on the Moon.

*warning*

Dont EVER attempt to observe the Sun through a scope without a proper solar filter.

This is the business and is 100% safe:

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/solar-filters/baader-astrosolar-safety-film-nd-50.html

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I would say get used to the ep's that come with the scope and see what your viewing preferences are, and once established go for the Celestron X-Cel's as they are pretty good ep's, they will be discontinued soon in favour of the newer LX's.

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All good advice above. I used my supplied 10mm and 25mm EPs for about ten or twelve months before deciding which replacement EPs to save for. Take your time to learn your way around your kit before spending money :-)

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