Purchased my first scope

[Boyleyuk]

After much deliberation i finally choose the Celestron Nexstar 127 slt scope with goto. Only managed to use it for about 1 hour due to weather etc however i have been fairly impressed so far.

Very easy to setup, and even easier to align. I was able to see some colour banding on Jupiter and some of its moons, however i would like to try and get this a bit clearer.

So the telescope came with a 9mm and 25 mm eye piece.

Can anyone recommend what eye pieces i should be looking at in order to see Jupiter that little bit clearer?

also any other suggestions for eye pieces would be appreciated

regards

David

[Rustmonkey]

A x2 Barlow would get you closer. And effectively double your eyepieces in one go.

[paul schofield]

Hi David, it would be hard to suggest eyepieces to you really as the market is flooded with so many. I would personally invest in a decent barlow lens and see how this works with your 9mm eyepiece. I use a BST 8mm as my main planetary ep and this works great with my 200p and on good seeing nights I can use a barlow to double the magnification. I think investing in a barlow lens would probably be wise investment as it will be useful for all your e.p's. I am not familiar with your scope so others can advise better.

[pvaz]

Just want to point out a session is not that much to evaluate how clear can you see planets on your scope.

The quality of the view depends on many factors, such as the steadiness of the atmosphere and the air currents caused by temperature shifts. To measure the atmosphere turbulence see if any stars are twinkling (naked eye). That means it's not steady, so you can expect bad views at high magnifications.

As to temperature shifts, they take action both inside your scope and over the terrain around you. The scope should be left out to cold for about 1 hour. The terrain is usually cold enough after midnight.

Another thing to consider is how high the object is. Given the current time I suspect you just observed Jupiter when it was still low near the horizon. The higher it is the better the views.

Any, or all, of this may be the cause of the problem you found. Even a better EP would be affected in the same conditions.

[pvaz]

Take a look at this side by side comparison of planetary EPs:

http://www.cloudynights.com/item.php?item_id=1935

There are so many out there, this will let you know some brands and models, ranging from 50 up to 500 (rare discontinued models). It haves some pictures to help you know what improvements you'll get. Personally I went with the Baader Genuine Orthos (got most for 50 each in the 2nd hand market) and I'm very happy with them.

[Baffa]

I don't know how the atmosphere is in UK but here in Sweden I can very seldom get more than around 200x magnification on my 127 SLT without things getting really bad. So with a 2x barlow and a 9mm eyepiece will get you around 333x which I think is a bit too much for this scope, at least here where I live. I would get a ~6-8mm planetary EP or a ~12mm with a 2xbarlow.

I also have found out that to get the best views I have to leave it outside to cool down for a long time before I start my viewing session, at least one hour.

[Capricorn]

If it is about 1500mm focal length then look for something around the 100x to 120x magnification, could easily go for a bit less so don't assume that more is better.

80x means ~18mm eyepiece,

100x means 15mm eyepiece,

120x means 12.5mm eyepiece.

If you are feeling like retail therepy the BST's are in this area - 12mm, 15mm 18mm - and I don't think you will go wrong with them. However being f/11 the scope will be fine with a decent plossl in which case the Vixen NPL plossl's probably come out well here at £30 a piece.

120x will be good on Saturn when it appears and gets into a good viewing position.

[Boyleyuk]

As always thanks for your advice