I have made a dreadful mistake and need advice

[rowan46]

I recently bought a rather nice 80/480 triplet unfortunately it has shown up my very meagre and rubbish eyepiece collection for what it is. It all seemed okay in my c5 but as this is a wide field scope I really need a wide field eyepiece. I will have to save up as this scope cost me in my terms quite a lot. So what am I saving for? To put it shortly I want the one killer eyepiece for an 80mm f6 scope used for widefield in an urban environment money no object it just means I need to save longer it will be worth the wait if I end up with the right eyepiece.

Thanks for looking and appreciate the help as I know very little about eyepieces.

[E621Keith]

A TV Nagler 31 should fit your need for the ultimate sky sweeper eyepiece.

[Sirius Bizness]

The 21mm TeleVue Ethos is worth a look.

[faulksy]

theres a 31mm nagler now on abs

[Herbig]

The Meade 5000 series Ultra Wide Angle EP's are very good and not as costly as the Naglers.

I have 6.7 and 14mm UWA's and a 2" 34mm Super Wide Angle.

These give super views with my SW Equinox Pro 80mm refractor.

They can be picked up at very reasonable prices SH

[Ags]

Hey, I know nothing about these expensive eyepieces, but firstly be sure you like the 80 degree / 100 degree views - not everyone does! And if you do like them, then the 21mm ethos might be better as the higher mag will make your urban skies a bit darker and give you better contrast on star fields and clusters. With an exit pupil of 3.5mm, it would still have enough exit pupil for viewing nebulae.

The only 80 degree EP I own is a slightly broken Speer WALER 9mm, which gives nice 80 degree views in both my ST80 and my mak, but it is not a widefield EP being 9mm.

[jam1e1]

also mirror Pete's comments- my EP set 90% Meade UWA/SWA - fantastic performance for very reasonable cost

[John]

Great suggestions above but mine would be a 13mm Ethos. It will still deliver a whopping 2.7 degree true field of view with that bit more magnification to darken the background sky in the urban environment. I have a 31mm Nagler but find I use my 20mm Nagler and 13mm Ethos more often in my semi-urban environment.

With an F/6 scope there would be little to loose in performance if you save a few £'s and went for the Explore Scientific 14mm 100 degree eyepiece instead of the Ethos I reckon but you did say you wanted a "killer" eyepiece and the 13mm Ethos is certainly that

[Moonshane]

my concern with the 31mm Nagler and even my fave the 26mm Nagler is that the mag would be very very low at 15x and 18x. nice but a bit low for me, especially with LP, albeit wide field at 5.5 and 4.5 degrees.

I'd therefore suggest maybe something giving about 3 degrees, ie. a 17mm Nagler or even a 17mm / 13mm Ethos which would both be superb in your scope I think.

[Moonshane]

must type faster!

[Ags]

Great suggestions above but mine would be a 13mm Ethos. It will still deliver a whopping 2.7 degree true field of view with that bit more magnification to darken the background sky in the urban environment. I have a 31mm Nagler but find I use my 20mm Nagler and 13mm Ethos more often in my semi-urban environment.

With an F/6 scope there would be little to loose in performance if you save a few £'s and went for the Explore Scientific 14mm 100 degree eyepiece instead of the Ethos I reckon but you did say you wanted a "killer" eyepiece and the 13mm Ethos is certainly that

Agreed. Regarding the 31mm nagler - would you really want a telescope giving x16 magnification? It would make more sense to pick up a pair of 15x70 bins for a third of the price of the nagler.

Must type faster too! :-)

[RikM]

I tend to use my 14mm Pentax the most in my ST80. It is probably the equivalent of John's 13mm Ethos just with a smaller field at 70° rather than 100°. I find the 20mm too low power, the 14mm gives that bit more definition to clusters etc.

...and me

[Moonshane]

ps not sure you made a mistake. not my sort of scope but lots of people love the small wide field frac for many reasons - mostly good.

[Astro_Baby]

As an alternative to TV you could consider Explore Scientific, quite close to the performance for a lot less dosh.

[Ags]

You know if you buy one TV, you will buy another, and another... it will be another dreadful mistake.

By the way what EPs do you currently own and why are they so bad?

[andrew63]

Also be aware your telescope is fairly compact - some of the eyepiece mentioned here weigh more than a bag of sugar!

andrew

[rowan46]

You know if you buy one TV, you will buy another, and another... it will be another dreadful mistake.

By the way what EPs do you currently own and why are they so bad?

They are cheap plossis absolutely fine in my c5 but they only go up to 20mm and they don't really cut it on a wider view I just figured if I was going to get a wide one I would save and get the right one I have made a few that will do choices with astro buys in the past and thought for once I would do what everyone else does and get the right equipment first time.

[rowan46]

Also be aware your telescope is fairly compact - some of the eyepiece mentioned here weigh more than a bag of sugar!

andrew

That's a fair point but it has a fairly solid 2" focusser which they reckon is solid enough to hang a dslr from, I don't actually know as I haven't got the t-mount and rings yet but it looks pretty solid.

[Mr Moff]

sounds like a good ethos 13mm moment approaching.

Absolute heaven.

[alan potts]

I would go for something in 82 degrees around 20mm, buy Naglers are very expensive and at this F/L rare secondhand or an 18mm from Meade or Ex sc.

The other thing you could go for and a is cheaper, something at 26mm 28mm in the 68 degree format. Again Televue fall into this area too but there is also Ex Sc and Meade to look for. This would give you similar Fov buy one is less money, the best option is the 20 mm Nagler the cheapest is the 28mm Ex sc of Meade.

Vixen also make some nice eyepieces to but I have never owned one.

Alan

[Capricorn]

Go get an 18mm BST and go outside viewing now,

I use that in an 80mm triplet f/5.9 WO GT-81, works fine. Also used in a Megrez 90, again no problems.

Order one now and you will be using the scope by the weekend.

[Moonshane]

That's actually how I often do things to check if an eyepiece will work for me. I buy a cheaper version and when happy start saving for the premium replacement, I lose a few quid - maybe £10 on the cheaper eyepiece but that's fine by me as it's a great way to check compatability.

[cs1cjc]

If you want to see what is in front of your eye and not hiding round the corner, and/or you do not have money to burn, then I think that in a scope of this focal length, a 1.25" eyepiece of about 24 or 25mm is fine. Top of the list for me would be a a 68 degree model from perhaps Explore Scientific (which I have), Meade or TV. There are also good 25mm 60 degree models from BST, Celestron and Meade.

[ollypenrice]

13 Ethos for me too. I do use scopes down to 15X magnification and they are far better than any binouculars I've ever tried, but that is at a very dark site where some of the huge Nebulae can be picked out, sometimes with a filter.

Why TeleVue and not the copies? Partly because TV are are better and partly on principle. These stunning EPs are here because TeleVue invented them, not because Meade copied them.

The 13 Ethos is the best EP I've ever used (though sadly I don't own one.) The FOV is huge, the sharpness total, the contrast huge and then there's this weird sensation of there being no glass in it! That's how it feels to use. Transparent.

It's personal, but after using ultra wide EPs I find smaller FOV's leave me underwhelmed. I love the feeling of infinite space all around.

Olly

[Mr Spock]

17mm Nagler - good eye relief, comfortable and very sharp. At 3° it's just about right.