Eyepiece Madness

[nmitsthefish]

Hey everyone

I am totally new to this forum and astronomy in general. I just picked up an Orion SkyQuest XT8 (f/5.9, 1200mm) and it came stock with a 25mm Plossl and a 2x Shorty Barlow. Something I need to start thinking about is starting my EP collection. And I read as a general rule start out with a high powered and a low powered piece. Since it comes stock with the low powered, I am in the market for a nice, AFFORDABLE, high powered EP. I can't stress affordable enough. So I've been trying to read up on the subject but it gets confusing really fast. I thought maybe I can ask some pro's about my specific situation and see what you guys think! =)

In regards to focal length, I want something that would be excellent for planetary viewing, but not something that would be too powerful to cause some distortion and even difficulty in keeping the objects in frame with the dobsonian. And with my stock piece and barlow I currently have a 25mm and a 12.5mm. So i was thinking perhaps getting something around a 9mm or 10mm. Does that sounds like a decent choice for my first piece?

Next, I am trying to figure out what type of EP to get. I've read that Plossls are good all around and that Orthos are especially good for planetary viewing. I should also mention that I am especially interested in planetary viewing but I do not want to be limited to planetary viewing. Would an Ortho be good for other types of objects such as star clusters, double stars, nebulae, etc? I've found an Ortho that seems absolutely perfect but I really am unsure because of how inexperienced I am; the 10mm Badaar Classic Ortho (BCO). It seems high quality AND affordable. I've read John's review but generally theres not much out there on this piece. His review seemed very positive but I'm also not sure, given the specs of my scope, if it would be a good match. Any thoughts? Any better suggestions?

Finally.. It's hard not to be attracted to EP starter sets such as the Orion Starter set which has a 20mm plossl, 7.5mm plossl, 2x Barlow, moon filter, and colored filters for a crazy low price of like a hundred bucks for all three. Which makes me question the quality of the EPs. And since I already have a 2x barlow would that be worth it? Can you stack barlows? I don't know if it's a good idea but maybe there is a really excellent quality starter set out there for a good affordable price that I dont know about yet.

Thanks for your time guys, any help is greatly appreciated.

-Nick

[Qualia]

My advice would be to practice for a while with what you have got. That way, you'll get a feel for your skies and the objects you're viewing and will be able to make a much more informed enquiry and decision when you make a jump for upgrading your EPs.

There are a load of threads on eyepieces, magnifications etc which would be worth your time to look through. However, as a general rule of thumb for your 8", a good all round galaxy, globular, nebula eyepiece would be around 120x, maybe another around 80x to 90x and a general hunter eyepiece around 50x. If you couple these with a barlow, you've doubled you kit and have a pretty decent spread.

You have a Newtonian and it's a relatively fast scope, an f6, so you'll need to collimate it quite regularly. If I were you, before thinking about purchasing anything, I'd use a little money for a collimation tool like a Cheshire and collimation cap. If you don't do a little collimating, you're not really going to know or appreciate what your telescope is capable of, you're going to end up with poor visual images and cripple the aperture of your reflector. As it is, with your telescope well collimated and the supplied EPs, you'll have mind-blowing views of star-fields, nebula like M8, globulars like M 13, open clusters like M7 or M6, wonderful sights of the Moon, of its shadows and craters, and planets like Jupiter and Saturn, although small, will reveal their biggest moons, rings and banding respectively.

After a good few sessions with your well collimated telescope, you might then want to consider up-grading the finderscope (not sure what yours is like but the supplied one from Skywatcher doesn't get the best of reviews), and getting a decent low power EP and a Telrad. That way, not only do you have a lovely EP to scan the cosmos with but it doubles with the Telrad as an excellent tool for learning the art of star hopping.

With regards to planetary viewing, there really isn't an ideal focal length eyepiece for so much depends on other factors (seeing, transparency etc) but I'd suggest you make your first one around 140x to 160x, this way you cover ground for Saturn, Jupiter, Venus, and the Moon. As you can appreciate, even as little as 1mm increase or decrease in the mag - about 10% to 15% difference of magnification - can be quite surprising which is the main reason why most planetary observers will have quite a run of high-mag EPs.

For planetary work I use Orthos and in particular those that were made by Baader - the Baader Genuine Orthos. These are no longer in production but regularly crop up on the secondhand market from anything between £50 to £100. The quality of image in these EPs is as good as it gets. If you want a similar quality image EP but with a wider field of view and perhaps a more comforting eye-relief (I haven't had any problems with the BGOs) you're going to have to spend a fair bit more. I've read that Baader's Classic series and the Hutechs are also of very, very high quality.

In general, BST Explorers come highly recommended. I haven't ever used them but in all the reviews I've read everyone seems to be very content. I think they're just under £50 a piece. Another EP series which has had great feedback and reviews are the Celestron X-Cel LX series. These I can recommend. They are a little more expensive than the BSTs but the quality, sharpness and contrast given s wonderful. On the Plossl front, I've read some good stuff about GSOs and what I think amounts to a very similar EP is the Revelation series. Vixens also have very favourable reviews - many considering them a better buy than say the GSO or Revelation series - and once again can be found at First Light Optics at a very reasonable price. Of course, there are also TeleVue Plossls which would be the bee's knees and from time to crop up on the secondhand market.

Finally, regarding the eyepiece starter kits. I'd personally take it step by step. See what you like looking at, see what size EP is going to be most useful in a given situation, and so on. There's really no hurry.

Good luck and hope this helped a little.

[rowan46]

Not much to add to Qualias comments except to provide a few americanisms for you I believe bst starguiders are called paradigm in the usa and there may be a few other names for them. baader stuff is a little harder to find and more expensive over there I hear so have a look at cloudy nights which is an american astro site they have some excellent reviews on common american eyepieces. But don't be a stranger come on back for any other info you may need and welcome to sgl. Nice scope by the way

[nmitsthefish]

I agree that I need to practice for a while to get a feel for things, I kind of just wanted to have all the information in the back of my mind while I practice so I can make better decisions. I technically have yet to even observe one single time, as my scope hasnt even arrived yet! lol so I realize I'm jumping the gun a bit. And wow I feel like a total boob, because I had no idea this forum was mainly english. I have every intention of continuing to participate here because everyone has been so nice, and it can't hurt to make friends! Thanks for the advice!

[ronin]

Hope that Orion have supplied a reasonable 25mm plossl and barlow.

With that presumption the good and reasonable cost option is the Astro Tech Paradigm, $60 @ Astronomics also look at Agenaastro and Eyepiecesetc.

Which ones? You have a 25mm so can ignore the AT 25mm, for high power really it means the 5mm or the 8mm. The 5mm may be a little too much and you could find yourelf using it not too often. The 8mm wold be more usable and with the barlow would make in effect an 8mm and a 4mm,

Would almost suggest getting 2, but still stuck with which 2.

5mm amd 8mm a sound posible pair, but so does 8mm and 12mm - this combination would enable 4mm, 6mm, 8mm and 12mm with or without the barlow. It all depends on how good the barlow is.

Agena do the Celestron X-Cel eyepieces (the others will do them also) at $69, they come in 5mm and 7mm options.

I do not use a barlow, prefer just an eyepiece so my thinking is based on this. In the situation and if only 1 eyepiece I would take a shot at an 8mm AT Paradigm (150x), if you like it then try a 5mm (240x). Would still like a 6mm as that would give 200x. 1mm difference makes a significant change when at the short focal lengths.

WO do the 6mm SPL eyepiece at $100 but that is I think getting out of the budget range.

[nmitsthefish]

Wow the amount of information you guys have provided is outstanding. So I'm really digging all the positive reviews for the Celestron X-Cel LX series and it seems like I am leaning towards that now. I think I have ruled out the BCO at this point but the Paradigm (BST explorer) is cheaper. Ok well I think i wanna go with the celestron for my high power it's just I'm not sure if i should do the 7mm or 9mm (considering i have a barlow)