Eye Pieces

[Buster]

i bought my husband a Skywatcher Explorer 200P EQ5, can anyone help with new lenses for this. it can with a couple of Barlow lenses but i want to enhance his collection. Can anyone help with their knowledge which is far greater than mine!!!

[rory]

let the peeps here know the sort of budget you have in mind . theres such a choice with eyepieces.

[umadog]

I doubt it came with two barlows. A barlow is an element that doubles magnification of an eyepiece. Can you tell us exactly what you have right now? There should be a number in mm on the eyepiece barrels. What do those say?

[JamesM]

Eyepieces do come in all shapes and sizes and although initially they may be selected on the basis of the magnification that they can help produce, other qualities like the size of the field of view (some eye pieces can provide 100 degrees of view) and the level of contrast and coatings all go towards making the choice of eyepiece a subjective consideration as these qualities can make some eyepieces very expensive. As Rory has said above, an idea of your budget will certainly help us with some suggestions.

James

[Buster]

hi the lenses i have are BST Explorer ED 8mm, 18mm, super 10mm & 2 x Barlow Lens. Budget of about £50 ish.

[paul schofield]

Hi you may find this helpful

Eyepieces - the very least you need.

The link is located at the top of the beginners section, a very interesting informative read on eyepieces. Sounds like you already have a great little set there to be getting along with. The only short fall I can see would be a low powered ep for deep sky observations, something in the 25mm-32mm range would be a good addition. I wont suggest eyepieces as I believe others can advise better as I an no expert with eyepieces. Good luck.

[Capricorn]

Assuming reasonable cost, not TV Nagler area then the oft recommended solid BST/Starguiders.

I presume that you have a 10mm and 25mm, so consider the 8mm and 12mm BST/SG, Skys the Limit @£47.

Say these as the 25mm appears reasonable, the 10mm less so.

These work well on the 200P and have good eye relief.

There is the 5mm for greater magnification but the 2 above are the ones I would suggest at this time. The 5mm can come later if all goes well.

Alternatives are

Plossl's, suggest the Vixen NPL's in these (FLO @£30)

TMB Planetary's, fair selection of focal lengths (Sky's the Limit @£41) Check price may have changed.

Above these come the Celestron X-Cel eyepieces, could go for the 7mm and 12mm (FLO @£69) starting to get more costly.

There are Lacerta planetary eyepieces from 365Astronomy however these seem to be available only in the shorter focal lengths, they are £47, they have a range called Super Planetary that have a larger selection as well , these Super Planetary's are £63-64.

That is about it that I know of in this range of cost.

I have the BST/SG set and like them, many others do as well, so for "safety" I would suggest them, don't think he will be disappointed with them. Work on the basis that if he wants better then he can spend the £200 to get it.

As you seem to buy all these bits do you ever get out and look yourself ?

[pel]

I think the safe bet would be to get him another BST Explorer -

The 25mm

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1-25-25mm-BST-Explorer-Dual-ED-eyepiece-/160644997391?pt=UK_Telescope_Eyepieces&hash=item256730210f

Or the 5mm

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1-25-5mm-BST-Explorer-Dual-ED-eyepiece-Branded-Starguider-/160808578961?pt=UK_Telescope_Eyepieces&hash=item2570f02f91

I have the 25mm and the Skywatcher 200p/eq5 and I think it works well for me finding the Objects. The 5mm might be too high a magnification for regular use as you would need very good conditions to use it.

[rory]

id say you could benefit buy adding a low power e/p 28/32mm. or even to go with your set a 25mm starguider.

[Qualia]

From my limited experience with a 4" f/10, I have found that around:

40x - is my general workhorse for locating given objects and scanning the beautiful star fields of the night sky and is also nice with given objects like M31 (although even this doesn't fit in the eyepiece!).

55x - is very useful for its pleasurable field of view and tigther focus on star fields and given DSOs like nebula and tighter open clusters. This magnification is also useful on solar work.

80x - is a useful magnification for tweaking out detail from planetary nebulae like M76, on globular clusters like M15 and for hinting at the possibility of splitting given doubles - which is useful as an indication that I have located the right star. Also a nice magnification on given solar work.

110x - useful eyepiece on resolving given doubles, Jupiter, general Lunar scan, focusing on the core of given globular clusters etc.

140x - excellent on Jupiter, Saturn, Lunar work, splitting easier (and often prettier) doubles, etc.

160x - if seeing permits this is a nice magnification on Jupiter and great on Saturn and is very useful for splitting doubles.

200x - very nice on close up lunar work, Saturn and Mars on good seeing nights. Also useful for close double star elongation and micrometre measurements.

We've also go to appreciate that as the power range increases this type of magnification might not be as usable due to seeing conditions. In my experience, 200x is generally going to be the maximum magnification used on an average session; it can be pushed but not too often. Moreover, viewing at higher magnification will also highlight one's own eye defects like motes and floaters which can be annoying.

Also, as Rory suggests above, a low-power magnification around 30x will be very nice for taking in those beautiful star fields and the only reason I haven't included in the table above is because at the moment I haven't had experience of using one.

Hope this helps.

[Buster]

wow thank you all for your advice it certainly gioves me something to work on.

[Buster]

I think the safe bet would be to get him another BST Explorer -

The 25mm

http://www.ebay.co.u...=item256730210f

Or the 5mm

http://www.ebay.co.u...=item2570f02f91

I have the 25mm and the Skywatcher 200p/eq5 and I think it works well for me finding the Objects. The 5mm might be too high a magnification for regular use as you would need very good conditions to use it.

Thanks i just got him both from your links.

[wookie1965]

I agree with all the people on here its better to start with high, medium and low power eyepieces then get more in between when you decide what you want to look at so an 8 mm 18mm an 32mm would be ideal i have the 8mm and 18 mm BST and a 32 plossl that's all i need but i will add to that come Christmas i will be getting the rest of the BST range as they are really good eyepieces i will also be getting a 40mm for deep-sky.