Eyepiece for Clusters?

[mikey32shaw]

Was hoping for a little advice on my next EP purchase. I have a SW200p and am interested in observing clusters. What sore of mid priced EP would be best for this? I can use 1.25 EPs or 2.00 as i have a adapter.

Many Thanks

Mike

[nephilim]

I use a BST Starguider 15mm & Maxvision 24mm in my 200p with good results, Globs will take quite a bit of mag so the BST 8mm will work well also, all these ep's are good at f5.

Steve

[memoryman]

I use my Nirvana 28mm 82' AFOV (2.28' TFOV) EP for the Double Cluster and my TV Nagler T4 17mm 82' AFOV (1.37' TFOV) for single clusters.

[knobby]

Which clusters... M13 is very tight and fits nicely in an 18mm whereas M45 barely fits in a 32mm?

[rowan46]

which type of clusters? globs benefit from a fair bit of magnification open clusters need a wider field. The maxvision at the moment offer a very good price performance ratio http://www.optical-systems.com/maxvision-68deg-okular-34mm-p-25564.html

for globs around the 5-8mm perhaps starguiders

[Moonshane]

the answer to this question is always the same no matter what the object.....and it's the one that adequately frames the object and provides a sharp, contrasty, clear view of it.  clusters vary from tiny globulars to huge clusters covering many degrees. they require maximum field eyepieces and sometimes high power. it must of course fit within your budget, maximum exit pupil and weight limits.

I would tend to build an eyepiece set around what's needed and based on your observing experience.

if you can advise what you have, what your budget is and whether you wear glasses to observe this would help with suggestions but most eyepieces will be suitable for most objects within reason, if the objects fit in the field they produce.

[mikey32shaw]

Thanks for the quick responses, at the moment am still a beginner of sorts. Been observing for 12 months but still much to learn.

I don't need glasses and my eye sight as far as I am aware is perfect. Also was wanting to observe both open clusters and globs so appreciate I may need two separate EPs the only Eps I have at the moment are the two that came with my scope and I have bought a ultra wide 6mm. Thinking the latter will be ok for globs but think I need darker skies to find them. Was wanting to keep my new purchases below £70 if possible.

M

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[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

+1 for the MaxVision 24mm 68 deg. Such good value for money I got myself 2 (for future big binocular/binoviewer work). The others in that series are getting good reviews as well.

[faulksy]

when we meet up you can try mine,might help you decide better

[mikey32shaw]

^^^^ that's a great idea

[laowho]

Hi Mikey,

I'm new here but thought I'd toss this out, even if at this time your budget may not allow...Al Nagler talks about the "majesty factor" as the widest possible field of view under higher mags than were available before the 100(+) degree eyepieces, the benefit on clusters being able to see fainter stars (by extra magnifiction) in the same original true field of view but against a darker background. We were constrained to use certain EPs because we only binoview, but if we didn't then we would have done things differently...instead of using 36mm 72 degree Hyperion Aspherics producing a 6mm exit pupil (which EPs don't do well under our light polluted home skies), we would have gone with a higher power EP whose apparent field of view would render the same true field of view but with a much darker sky. Most times we have to use our ES 24mm 68s (4mm exit pupil) because of our light pollution. Just something to consider. Mel Bartel's even suggests that we might try a different approach to EP spacing, according to exit pupil rather than magnification.

Cheers

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Hi Mikey,

I'm new here but thought I'd toss this out, even if at this time your budget may not allow...Al Nagler talks about the "majesty factor" as the widest possible field of view under higher mags than were available before the 100(+) degree eyepieces, the benefit on clusters being able to see fainter stars (by extra magnifiction) in the same original true field of view but against a darker background. We were constrained to use certain EPs because we only binoview, but if we didn't then we would have done things differently...instead of using 36mm 72 degree Hyperion Aspherics producing a 6mm exit pupil (which EPs don't do well under our light polluted home skies), we would have gone with a higher power EP whose apparent field of view would render the same true field of view but with a much darker sky. Most times we have to use our ES 24mm 68s (4mm exit pupil) because of our light pollution. Just something to consider. Mel Bartel's even suggests that we might try a different approach to EP spacing, according to exit pupil rather than magnification.

Cheers

I would agree with that. An original Nagler might not even be needed. You might see if your budget stretches to a MaxVision 24mm 82 deg. These are essentially Meade Series 5000 ultra-wide angles in a different colour scheme. Excellent value for money. I had the 14mm Meade, and it held its own pretty well against the Nagler 17T4 (regarded as one of the best Naglers), even in a 20" F/4.1 dob (which is punishing on EPs). The only reason I sold it was that the eye relief was a bit short for me (it is fine for most), and I could get a Nagler 12T4 second hand (which has 3mm more eye relief, just rieght for me with my glasses). the link is here:

http://www.explorescientific.de/maxvision-82deg-okular-24mm-p-25559.html?language=gb

[YKSE]

If you're going for Maxvision EPs, you'd better hurry. They're going to raise shipping rate to some (?) contries, such as Sweden (from 12,9€ to 16.9€, beginning next week). I got this info from Holger himself, when I asked why the listed 9,9€ was not available when ordering.