Wide angled eyepeice

[Jiggy 67]

I want to invest in a wide angled eyepeice, to get some of that emersive experiance I read a lot about, however, I use a 1.25" focuser. I'm looking at mid to low power and was considering these:

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/william-optics-eyepieces/WOuwan-1.html I was thinking of the 16mm or:

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/baader-planetarium/BaaderHypAsp-1.html Probably the 36mm.

What do people think?? or do you have a better alternative??

Thanks guys

[Moonshane]

never used one but in your case (assuming your scope is f5) I'd go for the 16mm UWAN. it gives 1.3 degrees at 62x which is lovely. I think the 36mm would be too big an exit pupil in your scope and not sure how the 31mm would perform. I have read that the UWANs are close to Nagler performance for a lot less money. 1.3 degrees is plenty for almost all objects other than about 3-4 and you'd need 3-4 degrees to see those (look in your finder!).

[fredster]

I want to invest in a wide angled eyepeice, to get some of that emersive experiance I read a lot about, however, I use a 1.25" focuser. I'm looking at mid to low power and was considering these:

http://www.firstligh...s/WOuwan-1.html I was thinking of the 16mm or:

http://www.firstligh...erHypAsp-1.html Probably the 36mm.

What do people think?? or do you have a better alternative??

Thanks guys

Just wondering what you mean by "i use a 1.25" focuser"? As the 200PDS has a 2" focuser.

Anyway, nothing wrong with the WO eyepiece you have linked too. But the Hyperion struggles a little at F5. I sold my Hyperion set a few years back to buy the Explore Scientific 82deg set. The Hyperions were struggling in my F5 scope. The ES eyepieces have no such problems.

Have you seen these:

http://www.telescopehouse.com/acatalog/Meade_5000_Series_14mm_UWA_WP_Eyepiece.html

Slightly shorter focal length at 14mm but the specs are a match for the William Optics UWAN and you save £40 to boot. It would equate too 71x and a true field of 1.15deg in your 200PDS. You could then invest the £40 saved in a better low power eyepiece, such as this:

http://www.telescopehouse.com/acatalog/Meade_5000_Series_24mm_Ultra_Wide_Angle_Eyepiece_2__.html

No problems with exit pupil or your scopes fast focal ratio. I have the ES versions of these two eyepieces, they are superb. As good as you'll get without spending the extra for a Televue Nagler or Pentax XW.

[cs1cjc]

I very much like the Baader Hyperion Aspheric. Mine is the 36mm, which I use in my Newtonians with a coma corrector (Altair Astro) that works as a mild (1.1x) barlow and it gives me no exit pupil issues.

[Eigen]

If you are indeed using a 1.25 focuser be aware that the aspheric is a 2 inch eyepiece, even though it comes with the 1.25 adapter. This means that its FOV will be severely limited when being using in a 1.25 configuration.

Personally I would probably go for an ES82 of Meade UWA as I have looked through them in the past.

UWAN's seem to get good reviews so are probably in the same league, but I have not had a chance to test them. The Meade's can be had for quite a good price from Telescope House and are about 30-40 pounds cheaper than the other two alternatives.

[Jiggy 67]

Sorry Fred....should have worded it better, I mean I use ep's with a 1.25" barrel.

Some interesting ideas there and now I'm torn between the Meade 14mm and the 16mm UWAN....though Shane is a City fan...........

Eigan, I had the same thoughts about the aspheric, which is why I was moving away from it, I think the 16mm UWAN is fave at the moment

[John]

I'd go for the 16mm UWAN (or the slightly less expensive Skywatcher Nirvana version) out of those two. They are 90% (at least) as good as Naglers. I've directly compared the 16mm Nagler T5 to the UWAN 16mm.

[Moonshane]

between these two eyepieces I feel that the Aspheric will be the sort of eyepiece you put in with a view to relatively quickly taking it out and putting another eyepiece in for a closer look, especially at the relatively short focal length you have. I think the 16mm will be the sort of eyepiece you leave in the focuser all night on a regular basis.

as we are both (moody now we have more or less blown the league) blues, if you want to have an experience almost identical to what the 16mm would be in your scope, my 6" dob has a focal length of 1600mm and gives 62x and 1.3 degree field with my 26mm Nagler. if ever over this way (Stockport) on a clear night just give me a shout and you can have a look.

[Stargazer_00]

Get the uwan for sure. I Was looking at the same ep last month but settled on the 15mm celestron luminos instead. The Luminos series are also very good in my opinion. I'm taking delivery of the 10mm today and plan to get the 7 & 19mm in the near future