Skywatcher Explorer 130p new eyepieces

[Tlawrence84]

Hey all,

not had much chance for looking to the skies recently, but got out there earlier this week and saw Jupiter with some great clear skies on Tuesday.

have spent all week because of the cloudy skies looking at eye pieces for my scope. I went round and round in circles trying to decide, originally started off with the celestron eye piece kit, then moved to the Revelation set because of posts I saw on this site.

Then started looking at individual eye pieces and was sold onto the Vixen NPL's, but was not sure about the eye relief on the ones below 15mm.

Long story short, I ended up buying a 9mm Celestron X-Cel lx, 15mm Vixen NPL and a 2.5x Revelation Barlow.

These will be used alongside my stock 10mm and 25mm EP's that came with the scope. Hopefully I made the right choice, it looks like I have a good selection of magnifications now, hoping for some clear skies to give these a go!

does anyone have any thoughts on my choice, or own a skywatcher explorer 130p and would like some info when they arrive?

[Lenny147]

I changed the stock 25mm for a Vixen NPL 25mm and it's one of my favourite eps which gives nice clear crisp views

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[wookie1965]

Ive read good things about the x-cels and the vixens but i would have steered towards BST explorers they have excellent eye relief even the high mag ones. Like i said other people on here have said the ones you have chosen are good when you get them give us a write up about how they perform please, ive got the 150p and i love it you will have some great views with yours.

[inedible_hulk]

I have the same scope and same Barlow lens. I have the BSTs, but was also looking at the NPLs and x-cels. In the end I suppose I went for the eye relief (from the comments and with advice I found on this forum) and price. TBH all three are regularly recommended and are likely to be a good choice. I'd be interested to hear what you thought of the x-cel.

[Tlawrence84]

Hi Guys,

Just updating on my progress with these lenses. This has been the first night in my area when there have been no clouds! A little mift that the moon was so bright tonight tho cos that (I felt) put a damepner on my viewing. Caught jupiter in all it's glory, and then I managed to (what I'm pretty sure was) see the Orion Nebula. It looked like a grey smudge in the sky, but the whole sky seemed bright grey due to the moons glare. I think I need a filter.

Anyway, on to the topic of the eyepieces. My 2.5x Barlow lens hasn't arrived from FLO yet, I didnt see that it was on back order when I placed it, so I'm hoping for an update on that tomorrow. But I tried out the 9mm Celestron X Cel LX, and my thoughts were that I was a bit dissapointed. It's a 60 degree field of view lens, and has a large eye relief, but it's quite hard to actually see an image, I keep seeing the side of the barrel! It got Jupiter in focus very well, it appeared as a very crisp disc in the sky, and I could make out the bandings easily.

But the 15mm NPL from Vixen, wow! I'm more impressed with that, at half the price of the Celestron.

My question to the more experienced here, is this the magnification that I am struggling to cope with, or the wider field of view? I was thinking of getting the 5mm Celestron LX, but now I'm not sure between that, the Skywatcher Planetary lens (as this has a large eye relief also, or the Vixen NPL (I dont quite like the look of the very small exit lens). Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

[Lenny147]

Just to throw something in here I have the vixen NPL 25mm and it is prob one of my fav eyepieces

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[wookie1965]

I didn't have a problem with 8mm BST in my scope although its slightly bigger and ive barlowed it that did make it hard only because the Barlow lens i have is the on supplied that isn't really that good. I'm going to buy the 5mm BST for mine whether its the magnification or the eyepiece i cant say as ive never tried the X-cel but they do get good ratings wait for another good night and try again with better seeing conditions and you have more time get used to it.

[rwilkey]

Hi Guys,

Just updating on my progress with these lenses. This has been the first night in my area when there have been no clouds! A little mift that the moon was so bright tonight tho cos that (I felt) put a damepner on my viewing. Caught jupiter in all it's glory, and then I managed to (what I'm pretty sure was) see the Orion Nebula. It looked like a grey smudge in the sky, but the whole sky seemed bright grey due to the moons glare. I think I need a filter.

Anyway, on to the topic of the eyepieces. My 2.5x Barlow lens hasn't arrived from FLO yet, I didnt see that it was on back order when I placed it, so I'm hoping for an update on that tomorrow. But I tried out the 9mm Celestron X Cel LX, and my thoughts were that I was a bit dissapointed. It's a 60 degree field of view lens, and has a large eye relief, but it's quite hard to actually see an image, I keep seeing the side of the barrel! It got Jupiter in focus very well, it appeared as a very crisp disc in the sky, and I could make out the bandings easily.

But the 15mm NPL from Vixen, wow! I'm more impressed with that, at half the price of the Celestron.

My question to the more experienced here, is this the magnification that I am struggling to cope with, or the wider field of view? I was thinking of getting the 5mm Celestron LX, but now I'm not sure between that, the Skywatcher Planetary lens (as this has a large eye relief also, or the Vixen NPL (I dont quite like the look of the very small exit lens). Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

On ep's like the Celestron X-Cel LX you meed to use the twist-up eyecup fully extended I find to help get the right eye position and for comfortable viewing, give that a try and see how you get on.

[Tlawrence84]

Had an update from FLO, should get the barlow next week some time, not in a rush as the weather is poop at the moment!

I think I need more experience with the lenses, I'm sure with practice something as simple as just seeing whats in the lens will be second nature!

Seeing the barrel inside of the lens rather than the image itself, is that a trait of wide angle lenses or is that due to high magnification? Is that something that would be seen on the 5mm Vixen NPL for example? I've been eyeing up the 2.3mm and 5mm (rather than use a barlow on my 9mm) and the feature of having to not focus after changing EP's sounds good (ok, I take that feature with a pinch of salt) so might stick with the xcel lx series.

Is a 2.3mm lens pushing it for planetary and moon viewing?

(Skywatcher explorer 130p)

[rwilkey]

Hi there, yes, a 2.3mm eyepiece will be pushing it too far (260x) in my view and will not get much use, magnification is not everything in astronomy, the brightness and quality of the image is what's most important in my opinion. A 5mm for good nights of seeing (130x) would give you reasonable expectations, especially as 130x is your optimum magnification (the same as the objective) with this telescope. You should not see the inside of the barrel when viewing through an eyepiece by the way.

[StarSteve]

Actually, a 2.3mm in a 130p (130/650) is 283x. But yes it is too much for that scope.

Also, if the 130p sits on an EQ2 (what they are usually sold with) then even the 5mm is going to be next to useless. Forget seeing, the mount is the limiting factor. I know I used to own one of those things. If you have it on a more stable mount then you'll be fine with the 5.

Steve

[Tlawrence84]

Hi again,

I know this is an old thread, but I just wanted to give my thoughts on the setup I now have for anyone who has recently started this.

Now, I am no way experienced at this, and I am just starting out myself, but what I have learned is that POWERRRR (akin to Mr Clarkson) is not everything! There is only so much that advice can give, and until you try it yourself, you don't learn!

So, I ordered the Vixen NPL 15mm lens, the 9mm Celestron Xcel LX, the Revelation Astro 2.5x Barlow, and the Celestron Omni 2x Barlow. and my thoughts?

Vixen NPL 15mm, WOW This is my favorite eye piece I now own. I highly recommend this, and I will be buying the 8mm version shortly.

The celestron 9mm? Ermm, it's good. The quality is very good, better than the stock 10mm that comes with the lens obviously, but it doesn't have that wow factor of the Vixen in my opinion.

The Celstron barlow 2x and revelation astro 2.5x, I really can't tell the difference between the two, both feel good quality, but I think maybe the mount that comes with the Skywatcher 130p isn't up to the task of keeping a scope still enough at high mags. Either that, or I should have tightened the screws where the scope meets the mount!

I think the most use I will get for a while now is the stock 25mm and the 15mm, both occassionally seeing some Barlowed action. Sorry celestron, you're an awesome eyepiece, and look impressive out of the box, but I dont get the wow factor when I use you (yet?).

Next on the list? Nebula Filter and Neodymium Filter, possibly 8mm Vixen NPL