Advice Requested on Celestron Ultima-LX 5mm Wide Angle Eyepiece (1.25" & 2")

[ezerasurfr]

Good day All,

Let me preface this by stating, I am very green at this. I'm 34, this is my first telescope (though I previously owned a freelance photography company, and have experience with optics) - stargazing is new to me.

After careful research, I decided on the Meade 10" Lightbridge DOB. I went with this because of a few reasons. First, I live on 1/2 acre of fairly low light pollution property. So a more cumbersome scope was ok in my mind. Second, the scope accepts 2" EPs, which seem to allow for a better AFOV (from what I've read anyway - again, I'm new at this, so please feel free to correct me if I'm incorrect with anything.) And finally, the cost was under $1000.00 which suited my budget.

Now onto my question:

I received the scope yesterday. I unpacked it, took careful precautions putting it together. Used some Windex to clean up the mirror (joking). Carefully read the instructions. And brought the scope outside to give it a go. The scope comes with a 2" 26mm EP. While it seemed to certainly highlight anything I pointed it at, at 50x magnification - I really was not getting much. I could not discern any object in the sky, so I could not be sure as to what I was looking at.

There was no moon out, so I was attempting to view Jupiter, as I hear it is supposed to be splendid this month. But I just could not make heads or tails out of it. Is it the eyepiece, or am I doing something wrong? After my viewing session, I started to look more into EPs. I saw the Celestron U-LX 5mm for a reasonable price, but wanted to know opinions on it prior to purchasing. I also wanted to be sure I am going to correct route. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks everyone.

-Brian

[umadog]

Welcome. You've just started so take it slow! 50x is a useful magnification for the larger objects: open clusters, galaxy clusters, the larger emission nebulae. Point your scope at M42 in Orion and use the 50x. That should do the trick

Download Stellarium and use that to figure out where stuff is. At the eyepiece, use a DIM red flashlight and the Sky & Telescope pocket atlas. Buy Turn Left at Orion and a Telrad to get you on course for finding things easily. The 5mm eyepiece will be suitable for planetary viewing, since it will give you about 250x. But right now, for other objects, it's not what you need. You'd probably get a lot more mileage out of a good eyepiece in the 14mm to 10mm range. Try the Explore Scientific 82 degree series. They're VERY good value. A 5 mm or 6 mm eyepiece would be good planets.

[ezerasurfr]

Great! Thanks a lot! It's funny you mention Stellarium, I just finished configuring it to my location and am playing around with the options. I will check out those other EPs. I'm trying to slow down and take my time, and trying to "find my patience factor" - however, I'm excited. :-)

[umadog]

It's good you're excited. Where in NJ are you?

[ezerasurfr]

I live in Manalapan. It's between East Brunswick and Freehold.

[umadog]

As you say, compared to the areas around you, you have relatively little light pollution. However your area is still pretty bright. This is your closest Clear Sky Clock: http://cleardarksky....mdlNYkey.html?1 Which says you're in a "red" zone, which means Bortle 6 or 7 (http://cleardarksky.....html?Mn=optics, http://en.wikipedia...._Dark-Sky_Scale)

It's associated with your local club (http://www.starastronomy.org/), which will hopefully be worth getting to know.

What's nice, is that you're pretty close to substantially darker skies in the forest area of Wharton. You can see all this from this link: http://www.jshine.ne...onomy/dark_sky/

You are also about 3:30 hours from Stone Tavern Farm (google it) in the Catskills near Roxbury. That is way, way, way, darker than where you are. At this time of year it's cold up there, but it's worth the trip. If you're going for a little longer then Cherry Springs in PA is the Mecca for astronomers in the NE.

EDIT:

I should point out that the brightness I'm referring to is skyglow from all the nearby cities, such as NYC. In practice this more problematic than local sources of LP, which create direct glare. Even from Stone Tavern Farm, you can see NYC on the SE horizon.

[ezerasurfr]

Fantastic links. Thank you very much for them. So unfortunately for me, it seems like my best viewing times are when the objects I want to see are higher in the sky - correct? Which in turn, usually equates to later at night. When I get the opportunity, I will plan some trips to the suggested locations.

Will a light shroud help gather light better, even if there is very little ambient around me? Will it help reduce any LP?

[umadog]

It's always the case that higher is better. No matter where you are this is true. But there's always good stuff up so you don't have to wait until later in the night. Over about 30 degrees elevation is usually more than adequate but plenty of objects are only visible lower down. So grab what you can.

If there is no nearby direct light then a light shroud won't make any difference to contrast. It'll help if the moon is around, though. I like shrouds because they help protect the primary from dew and objects dropped in the dark. It's also possible that it will help a little with body heat in winter. However, people say that heat will just go straight through a shroud.

[ezerasurfr]

Thanks so much. I really appreciate the insight and tips!