Best eye piece to see the moon

[Nimmers]

Hi I am in need of help, I currently own a sky watcher 300p flex tube 12 inches ( very big).

My kids are always excited by the moon and I wondered what the best eye piece would be? I would like to view up close to the moon, any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Nimmers.

[John]

Hi and welcome to the forum ?

Does the scope come with any eyepieces as standard ?.

Virtually any eyepiece would show a fantastic view of the moon with a 12" scope !

A 10mm would give you 150x magnification which would be very nice. Add a 2x barlow lens and you have 300x which is about as high magnification as it's worth using - that will give really close up views of the lunar surface.

Sometimes low magnification is nice on the moon as well - so you can see the whole lunar disk.

Eyepiece prices start at around £30 and go up to £500+ each so having an idea of your budget would help.

[E621Keith]

The best eyepiece for lunar and planetary is probably Pentax XO orthoscopic, TMB Supermono and Zeiss Abbe Orthoscopic. All of which are very expensive used and discontinued.

Anyway, what is your budget?

I think a 7 or 10mm XW will be a good choice for moon and planet with the 200p.

What is in your eyepiece collection at the moment?

[Nimmers]

Thanks so much for your replys, the eye pieces I have at the mo are swa38 mm and 26 mm, both are 2 inches.

Many thanks

Nimmers

[E621Keith]

You need eyepiece with much shorter focal length to get the magnification needed for the moon and planets. 2" wide field eyepiece are not suitable for this.

Again, what is your budget?

[Nimmers]

Yeah that's what I thought. I have around £50.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

For kids, the XO and monocentrics are next to useless, due to their very short eye relief. A much easier option is something like a BST explorer 5, 8, or 12mm. These get a very good press. Secondhand, the Vixen LVs are good, as are the newver NLVs.

[E621Keith]

For a budget of £50, you should consider a 12mm BST Starguider. It would give you 125x magnification native and 250x when used with a barlow.

[Moonshane]

I like high magnification views of the moon but have to say that my favourite views of all are with my 32mm plossl and with the 16" scope masked to 170mm. This is at just 57x and the whole disk fits in nicely. The increased contrast at f11 provides a superb view. I have used up to 500x on the moon but in truth you rarely see more detail above about 200x. In your scope a good option would be the 8mm BST I think or even a 15mm which if you have a barlow could be used with that.

[freeflyjay]

i donn`t have many eyepieces but have a 15mm gso which i use for full disk, i have a 10" dob at f1200 so get 80x mag at this, for a 12" i think the f ratio is 1500 so 20mm would give 75x and a full disk, for closer views i`d imagine most half decent eyepieces should give a good view. but i am fairly new to all this, most people seem to reccommend the bst eyepieces and they are quite reasonably priced.

[Moonshane]

another option is the 18mm Baader Genuine Ortho. This provides really true, sharp images and would also barlow well. very easy on the eye and not too expensive.

[Nimmers]

Thank you all so much. I have a lot to go on with and a lot better understanding. Once again thanks.

[freeflyjay]

i donn`t have many eyepieces but have a 15mm gso which i use for full disk, i have a 10" dob at f1200 so get 80x mag at this, for a 12" i think the f ratio is 1500 so 20mm would give 75x and a full disk, for closer views i`d imagine most half decent eyepieces should give a good view. but i am fairly new to all this, most people seem to reccommend the bst eyepieces and they are quite reasonably priced.

just realised made a silly error there i ment focal lenght of 1200 not f ratio thats 4.7.......as i said still new........but i`ve been thinking of a baidder zoom just a little concerned whether it would work well on a fast scope, anyone tried one on a 10 or 12" ?

[LukeSkywatcher]

You can spend as much or as little as you can afford on an EP and they will all show you the Moon. The magnification is the key factor. When i observe the Moon i use perhaps an 8-9mm EP. I even use a 6mm.

[jabberwocky]

I love my williamoptics zoom for the moon, gives me x53 - x160, and its great zooming in and out without taking your eye off the view.