Celestron Omni Plossl Eyepiece

[riggers69]

Hi guys

I've been asked to make a xmas list and i have been wanting to upgrade on my basic 9 and 25mm celestron ep which came with my celestron nexstar 127 slt.

have any of you guys got/had any of these?

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/celestron-eyepieces/celestron-omni-plossl-eyepiece.html

if so, could you recommend a few sizes to add to my list i'd be very grateful.

Also if anyone knows of any decent but cheap filter sets for use with a baader solar film set up, and general moon saturn viewing?

Thanks for looking and hope to hear from u soon.

[riggers69]

oh forgot to add money is a issue so cheaper the better lol

thanks

[John]

I've used a few of the Celestron Omni plossls. They are a decent enough standard plossl but I think the Vixen NPL plossls are better for the £5 or so more that they cost. There are 10mm and 25mm focal lengths in the Vixen NPL range if you are looking for replacements for the stock 9mm and 25mm eyepieces. 

I don't find filters necessary for viewing the moon or Saturn but the Baader film is excellent for making a white light solar filter. I'd not try and economise on that front. 

[Qualia]

Have a look at the BST range as well. They seem to get such a good write up from everybody who uses them that for around £50 an eyepiece, I feel you can't go wrong. If I'm not mistaken I think you can purchase them from Sky's The Limit. It's also a good idea to check out the secondhand option. Not just at Astronomy Buy and Sell, but also from shops like Sky's the Limit who should offer a good service.

Regarding eyepiece focal length, I do not own a 5" f/12 so it's a tricky one to answer but one option would be to look into a 32mm (something like a vixen plossl) and then make a jump to a 20mm and then something around 9mm or 8mm. I'd keep the 25mm and see if it would serve as a white light solar eyepiece for I've found that around 55x gives a sweet spot on the Sun. Or again, keep the 25mm and then look at focal lengths of between 18mm to 15mm, 13mm to 10mm and a 9mm or 8mm. I know it is only a rough idea but I feel a choice along these lines will really bring your scope alive.

The Baader Solar film is a good call and will enable you to observe the Sun which is a fascinating area of study in itself and well worth your time.

Although I prefer viewing planets for any great length of time without filters, you might find it of interest to purchase a cheap light blue filter (#80A) and a light yellow filter (#11). I think you can pick them up for about a fiver each. These two work quite well on Jupiter and what I do is view the planet for a good while without the filter and when I feel my eye or brain is getting 'lazy' or 'accustomed to' the sight, I'll put one of these into action (usually the #80A) to quickly strike the brain and eye and bounce out features. When I feel the eye has been 'over exposed', I'll go back to a better class of unfiltered viewing.

Now, the light blue and light yellow filter together double as a cheap version of a continuum filter for viewing the sun. You screw them together and they give a subtle green hint to the image which is nice to use in white light solar viewing. So for around £10 you've got a little bit of kit to play around with that might help your celestial observations without breaking your pocket

Hope this helped

[Stargazing Glaswegian Gaza]

I quite like them having got the 32mm, 9mm and 4mm think i will get the Barlow at some point. Got good contrast and nice sharp objects with results. Big improvement over bog standard ones you get with scope for sure. Highly recommended

If I was you go for the 32mm and the 9mm and bag yourself the Barlow too that way you double your lot and saves you pennies in long run. Making your 32mm a 16mm and the 9mm a 4.5mm using the Barlow lens . Make sure you get the same kind of Barlow as it will be goodish quality compared to cheaper ones as there are some poor Barlow out there,take it from me on  that! Good price for me there too must have come down last 6 months! 

You can get the Barlow here http://www.sherwoods-photo.com/celestron_scopes/celestron_accessories_fs.htm as I can highly recommend the first class service along with eyepieces too making it one parcel and not 2 you are weighting on. The shop keep of the website & shop recommended to me using the eyepieces and I was not disappointed!

Order came within 2-3 days max and he even phoned to ask what i wanted to do with an order i placed as he had a replacement just different branding at same price! Going to get me next scope from there too!

Hope this helps have fun,

Regards,

Mr Gazza

[Stargazing Glaswegian Gaza]

The tall 5 piece filter set has a excellent moon filter in there! need to scroll down to get em http://www.sherwoods-photo.com/sky_watcher/skywatcher_accs.htm

[YKSE]

I've used a few of the Celestron Omni plossls. They are a decent enough standard plossl but I think the Vixen NPL plossls are better for the £5 or so more that they cost. There are 10mm and 25mm focal lengths in the Vixen NPL range if you are looking for replacements for the stock 9mm and 25mm eyepieces. 

I don't find filters necessary for viewing the moon or Saturn but the Baader film is excellent for making a white light solar filter. I'd not try and economise on that front. 

I agree with John that filters are not necessary, I've used mine not that much (even less when I had 130P).

I find that I'm using the longer fl eyepieces much more often with C8 which is F10, the small AFOV(a little over 1 degree) is essentially the same as yours. Therefore I would recommend you to get a 32/30mm plössl, then a 12/15mm should be quite useful for median-high power.

[tjr]

I can highly recommend Vixen NPLs. They are a very good quality EP for their price range and for me give noticeably crisper views than supplied EPs. I don't have any experience with the BSTs but see them getting good write ups regularly too. Qualia is correct, they can be bought at Skies the Limit.

[riggers69]

Thanks for the replies guys, definately given me something to think about.

the reason i asked about filters, was i have seen the full moon up close and personal but it felt like i needed to wear sunglasses  lol.

With the baader solar film ive heard people say they couldnt distinguish much detail apart from the odd sun spot, how do u see the swirly surface details u see on the internet? or is that kit beyond my price range?

Thanks again guys

[tjr]

Know what you mean about sunglasses. I find a full moon really quite uncomfortable to observe without a filter. It also helps reveal more subtle detail too for me. I've not done any solar observing so others will be better placed to answer, but a film will only give you white light. To see the 'swirly stuff' you need a dedicated PST scope or similar.

[riggers69]

thanks for the replys.

Im edging towards the 15mm and 30mm vixen npls after reading the replies ive had so far. so which leads to my next question (sorry), what barlow would compliment these ep's best? again cost to a relative minimum.

Thanks

[tjr]

Well, a x2 Barlow will in effect give you a 7.5mm EP and a 15mm EP from those two... so doubling up in the 15 there. A x3 would give you a 10mm and 5mm so potentially a better range. Have you read the sticky by warthog on EPs? It is excellent and will really help inform your decision.

[Qualia]

With the baader solar film ive heard people say they couldnt distinguish much detail apart from the odd sun spot, how do u see the swirly surface details u see on the internet? or is that kit beyond my price range?

With the correct precautions in place -  ¡¡¡ and please take them seriously when setting up your solar filter !!! - the Baader Solar Filter will enable you to see solar phenomena in white light. Effectively, Sunspots made up of Umbra and Penumbra, Penumbral Filaments, Light Bridges, Pores, Faculae, Limb Darkening and Granulation. To get an idea of what you will see, check out the White Light solar images here at SGL.

To see beyond this, to see solar filaments, plages, flares, and the such, you will need a dedicated H-Alpha telescope and these are just a wee bit more pricey than the solar film. They usually start at around £600 + and go on into the ££££s.

[Stargazing Glaswegian Gaza]

Thanks for the replies guys, definately given me something to think about.

the reason i asked about filters, was i have seen the full moon up close and personal but it felt like i needed to wear sunglasses  lol.

With the baader solar film ive heard people say they couldnt distinguish much detail apart from the odd sun spot, how do u see the swirly surface details u see on the internet? or is that kit beyond my price range?

Thanks again guys

Not all that daft an idea about feeling the need to ware a pair of sunglasses. I like to hook up with my Bins from time to time as I may not feel up to using my scope. Also use bins if i feel there's too much cloud in areas of the sky or indeed patchy cloud I will go for my Bins as there lighter to move about if needed and viewing a fool moon in them can be very very bright and I mean BRIGHT.

I then found out that there was no kind of filters for binoculars for some reason and there for decided to take up  specsavers  offer being get one pair and the second is costing you zero £££ (apart from lens) I opted to get my prescription sunglasses as i have astigmatism and find normal sunglasses to be of no use. (and needed to get my eyes checked at the time lucky hu) Now I have shades primarily for stargazing when its full moon and need to use the Bins!!! 

As for your filters I forgot to say that the BAADER NEODYMIUM & IR CUT filter as it is an excellent filter for the money. Ok you can get a set of filters for the money like the one I pointed out above but its a fabulous all rounder and will also double up to be used as a good moon and planetary filter too to enhance detail.

It blocks out some of the light pollution and really makes the sky darker there for bringing out more stars in clusters that you never new was there amazing!

So the point main of this story is sunglasses are indeed not a bad idea for viewing the moon! Especially when doing so through binoculars where no filters are available! 

Glad post is of use let us know what you go for and how you get on with your new astronomy gizmo's wont you? Be interested to find out the outcome I will.

Regards,

Mr Gazza.

[Stargazing Glaswegian Gaza]

New Id forgot something to give you being a link to the BAADER NEODYMIUM & IR CUT filter  Go for the  Baader Contrast-Booster as I just remembered you don't have a NEwton scope but a refracting styled one.

 http://www.sherwoods-photo.com/baader_planetarium/baader_filters_fs.html

And make sure you get this in 31.7mm size OKs mind to scroll down page a bit size is 31.7

I just noticed that you have the 127 sct so probably you should go for the Baader Contrast-Booster

You can always phone up Sherwood's or indeed email as i did to place your order to get there excellent advice and get proper clarification as to what filter will be best for your scope  and your need's as to what you are using it for as they know there stuff and will get max performance from your scope. So to not waste any valuable £££'s.

[YKSE]

About the barlow, if you're getting the 30mm and 15mm eyepieces, the 2X barlow is, as mentioned above, not a good choice.I would recommend Baader 2.25X barlow

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/baader-planetarium/baader-classic-q-225x-barlow.html

it can be used both as 2.25X and 1.3X,

This will give you additional 23mm, 13.3mm, 11.5mm and 6.7mm, so you have magnifications of 50X(30mm), 65X(30mm+1.3X), 100X(15mm), 112.5X(30mm+2.25X), 130X(15mm+1.3X) and 225X(15mm+2.25X), it covers quite some useful range actually with your two new EPs.

I'm quite satified with this barlow's performance in any of my scopes.

[Stargazing Glaswegian Gaza]

Get yourself a 3*  Barlow  as this will turn a 30mm EP into a 10mm EP and a 15mm EP into a 5mmEP giving you a wider range than you would from a 2* Barlow. When you go for your Barlow make sure to spend no less than £20 as it will be of substandard quality. And you will regret it.  Id go for this: http://www.telescopehouse.com/acatalog/Meade__128_3x_Short-Focus_Barlow_1.25_.html

[Pig]

You may want to try the second hand route, most astronomers do look after their equipment so it can be worth while.

[faulksy]

just to throw a snanner in the works, the ts hrs from modern astronomy are excellent. I tried the bst,s and they did give good views but also give a yellow tint the ts dont

[riggers69]

Wow thanks again guys. Definitely lots of options an info to take in

Thanks for everything just got to decide which to put on my Xmas list and roll on December lol

Just out of curiosity where can I browse second hand items?

Chris

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[John]

Just out of curiosity where can I browse second hand items?

Chris

This is the place to look Chris:

http://www.astrobuysell.com/uk/

A point about barlowing long focal length eyepieces. A barlow lens, as well as amplifying the power that an eyepiece gives by X times, also extends the eye relief, that is the distance that the eye needs to be above the top lens of the eyepiece to see the whole field of view. This feature is OK with medium to short focal length eyepieces (it can actually be helpful) but, as long focal length eyepieces (eg: 30mm) already have quite a lot of eye relief, barlowing them can push the distance the eye needs to be from the top lens to a point where it's not comfortable to use any more as the eye has to "hover" well above the eyepiece and stray light gets in which reduces contrast and clarity.

So it's more usual and more effective to use a barlow on medium to shorter focal length eyepieces, rather than the longer ones.

[Stargazing Glaswegian Gaza]

I never realised that point my self John Because in the past I did Barlow my 32mm and thought something was not quite right with the Barlow at the time so it was probably pushing it and my eyes to there limits doing so. Sorry for the hijacking   but found this of use and had to reply to John! Hope i did not  impose to much sorry.

[tjr]

UK Astro Buy & Sell is a good place to start looking.

[LukeSkywatcher]

Another vote for the NPL's.