eyepiece price help

[Skwerl23]

Hello. So i bought an orion premium 1.25" kit. I was aware I may not he satisfied. Not to say I am or am not. It just doesn't fit my scope needs but it was an invaluable learning process. I have about 250$ to spend. What to eye pieces do you recommend for 8mmish and for 32-45mm ish

the 40mm is awesome. But below 17mm its like looking through a fly's eye. I can see it but its almost as if there is a bubbly look. 200x is more than I need for sure. Maybe I'll buy a 6mm in a few years.

TL;DR 250 USD... what 8mm and 40mm eyepieces do you recommend?

[John]

What scope do you have ? - this will affect the recommendations.

[Skwerl23]

I'm sorry. I thought I said. Lol. I have an orion xt8 f/5.9 1200mm 8inch dobsonian

[Capricorn]

Sorry I am confused, you say the 40mm is awsome, then ask which 40mm would we recommend.

Can I assume that the kit set bought just isn't up to it, and that therefore you want to replace the set with something better ?

Assuming this, what is the scope ?

The 40mm will be a plossl, or worse, plossls are fine the cheaper offerings are not.

So if you still want a 40mm plossl try the Vixen NPL. Not expensive and a good plossl, possibly consider the 32mm instead - the field of view is the same as the tube acts as a field stop so you see an almost identical amount.

At the shorter end try the AstroTech Paradigms at $60 a piece, they do an 8mm, you should have a bit left over so one or two more Paradigms.

You could go for the TV Plossls, they are very good and 2 of them woul kust about eat up the budget, again 8mm and (still suggest) the 32mm.

I would go for the Vixen+Paradigm route, but I have the set of Paradigms and they are good.

[E621Keith]

Since you live in the USA, you should consider these

35mm Astrotech Titan II ($160), sold as SW Aero ED in UK, great eyepiece.

8.8mm Explore Scientific 82deg ($100)

$10 over your $250 budget but I think they will be worth it

[Skwerl23]

@Capricorn...yes it is a kit so the 40mm is nice but if I return the kit. I return them all. Plus I was thinking about going up in quality a tad. Its a 40mm Sirius plossl

[Skwerl23]

Also I can do a 2" eyepiece. Is 32 still mY max?

[E621Keith]

The 32mm max is related to field stop diameter relative to the 1.25" barrel for a 55deg plossl. The 40mm plossl design can do 55 deg, but since it is restricted by the 1.25" barrel, the AFOV will be reduced to 40deg. As a result a 40mm 1.25" plossl will show the same amount of sky as a 32mm plossl.

The 1.25" limit depends on the eyepiece AFOV. It is reach earlier with wider field designs and later with narrower field designs. For a 70deg eyepiece, the limit is reached at around 24mm, for a 82deg it's about 16mm and for a 100deg it's around 13mm.

If your scope can accept 2" eyepiece, than the 2" 35mm Titan II is really worth considering. It will show you 2.1deg of sky in your XT8 compared to 1.3deg with your 40mm plossl.

[Capricorn]

Not to put down a 2" eyepiece, I have one, however to change while viewing between 2" and 1.25" is not just pull one out drop another one in. Take that into account.

If you intend to just use a 2" all night then no problem.

The views are good through a 2" but continuous swapping is a right pain. Since we tend to swap eyepieces while viewing to see things it could be annoying.

[John]

The views are good through a 2" but continuous swapping is a right pain. Since we tend to swap eyepieces while viewing to see things it could be annoying......

It's not really any hassle unless you have a Skywatcher scope which uses separate adapters for each eyepiece size. Other brands make it much easier as the 1.25" adapter just pops into the 2" socket.

[Skwerl23]

Yes my 2" uses a reducer to my 1.25 so its at most as difficult as swapping a Barlow.

[Skwerl23]

@e621keith. That's what I thought.

[pvaz]

My personal opinion is that you can make a small EP set that will give you the magnifications you use the most with mid range EPs.

When I first started I ordered a few too many EPs. Soon I found myself switching EPs and comparing was distracting me from actually observing the objects. That led to my reduced EP set, which is basicly 2 high quality EPs and a Barlow. I do have an Ortho set for planetary but don't really need it.

Another thing to consider is that a widefield EP can be used to replace a few others. Say for instance you get a wide 82º EP in 1,25" format, such as the Skywatcher Nirvana or the ES 14mm, this will have the magnification of any other 16mm/14mm, but will show much more sky them most plossls. The SW Nirvana 16mm will show as much sky as a 25mm plossls and won't be that far for a 32mm or a 40mm plossl (40mm plossls have smaller FoV and show as much as a 32mm with reduced magnification). So in 1 single EP you're making any other 1,25" EP above 14mm redundant, with the advantage of having a reduced exit pupil and a darker background sky wich will increase contrast. That happens because you see the same area in the sky, but the increased magnification darkens the background sky, reduces the exit pupil and gives you more contrast to detect elusive details. This widefield EPs also have a better eye relief then most plossls.

With your budget and scope I would get the following (taking MY observing habits into account):

http://agenaastro.com/explore-scientific-82-deg-series-nitrogen-purged-eyepiece-14mm.html

http://agenaastro.com/explore-scientific-82-deg-series-nitrogen-purged-eyepiece-6-7mm.html

A decent 2x barlow with the remaining 50$. Orion Shorty maybe. http://www.telescope.com/Orion-Shorty-125-2x-Barlow-Lens/p/8711.uts?keyword=orion%20shorty

With this you get 14mm, 11mm , 7mm and 5,5mm all with 82º FoV. The 14mm will show as much as any plossl up to 22mm, so the only logical add on is to get a 32mm plossl or another 82º 2" EP at a later time.

[pvaz]

Ops! 1 of those links is wrong the 6.7mm ES should be an 11mm ES.