Baader Planetarium Hyperion-Aspheric Modular Eyepieces, 31mm or 36mm...

[nypsirc]

I recently purchased a new 12"  f5 dobsonian from Dennis Steele (Dobstuff) and I'm looking to get a reletively nice low power 2" eyepiece for viewing those faint fuzzies.  I've taken a look at several very expensive ones and decided I don't want to spend that much. I came upon these Baader Aspheric eyepieces on telescopes.com and they seem to be well regarded among most people.  The only thing is that I'm not sure if I should go with the 31mm or the 36mm one.  I don't want to run the risk of having an exit pupil that is too large, yet I want to keep the magnification down.

Any help is appreciated.

[Damo636]

The difference in magnification between the 31 & 36mm is insignificant, & although the 36mm will show a bit more sky (1.7° vs 1.5°), I'd still opt for the 31mm in an f5 scope.

[Moonshane]

I think it depends on a number of factors. if you have no or low light pollution I think the 36 would be OK but the 31mm would be better in a mix of situations including those with LP.

I have never used these eyepieces myself but reviews seem pretty good. Bear in mind that in the 1.25" mode, you won't get 72 degrees of field. In the 2" mode the 31mm would give 1.5 degrees of field. apart from a handful of objects, you will be able to fit objects easily into such a field unless you start talking about 3-4 degree field objects which are not in the realms of this scope. not many galaxies/nebulae are over 1 degree in visible extent.

personally, I'd go for the 31mm out of these two but do consider other options. I went for a 26mm Nagler but you could get a used 27mm Panoptic for maybe £180-200.

[YKSE]

I'm very satisfied with my 31mm aspheric, a very light-weight 2" EP. Since my readings before purchase suggested more favors the 31mm over 36mm. My scopes are slowers than yours so I can't tell how it performs on a F5 scope.

[jimmyjamjoejoe]

I love my 31mm at f6, some slight coma at the very edges but only if you look for it, certainly nothing distracting. At f5 i'd imagine the results would still be good.

[Andrew*]

To be honest I wasn't that impressed with the 31mm Aspheric I had in a 8" f/5 scope. It wasn't bad, but wasn't great for the price. I would rather recommend the Skywatcher Aero range.

As for which one, if you have no local light pollution (i.e. light shining on your observing spot), and if your pupils can dilate larger than 7mm AND if your transparency is better than limiting magnitude 5, then you should get the 35/6mm. You can measure your pupils yourself by shutting yourself in a dark room for a couple of minutes, then taking a flash shot of your eye with a ruler next to it, but if you are older than 30 I'd imagine your pupils do not quite achieve 7mm.

If in doubt, get the 30/31mm as you will still get 50x magnification, so a decent field of view for your lowest magnification.

Personally, I've always had good conditions (young eyes and not bad light pollution) and very much enjoyed the extra fields of  wide eyepieces. I love them.

Andrew

[Tinker1947]

I have both the 31mm and the 36mm, when there were in the 10" newt they worked very well the very outer edge on the 36mm showed some elongates stars but this was right on the edge and i needed to look for it, i did tend to use the 36mm with its wider FOV  when star hopping ect, either or both you will be please with......

[Wilhelmus]

I recently purchased a new 12"  f5 dobsonian from Dennis Steele (Dobstuff) and I'm looking to get a reletively nice low power 2" eyepiece for viewing those faint fuzzies.  I've taken a look at several very expensive ones and decided I don't want to spend that much. I came upon these Baader Aspheric eyepieces on telescopes.com and they seem to be well regarded among most people.  The only thing is that I'm not sure if I should go with the 31mm or the 36mm one.  I don't want to run the risk of having an exit pupil that is too large, yet I want to keep the magnification down.

Any help is appreciated.

With one did you buy? I am considering buying the 31mm, would you recommend it? My scope is a f7,5

[John]

With one did you buy? I am considering buying the 31mm, would you recommend it? My scope is a f7,5

You may have a long wait as this member has not been on the forum since October last year.

I have a 31mm Aspheric and it works very well in my F/7.5 ED120 refractor if thats any help. It's pretty much sharp to the edge of the field of view in that scope. 

[TwinkleTwinkle]

sorry to bring up an old post , im also seriously considering the baader aspheric 31mm or 36mm, I have the 8se, would this be any of these be any good for my scope?

thanks

[John]

sorry to bring up an old post , im also seriously considering the baader aspheric 31mm or 36mm, I have the 8se, would this be any of these be any good for my scope?

thanks

Yes, they would work well with the 8SE. If you intend to use the eyepiece with the 1.25" barrel fitted be aware that the field of view is reduced quite a bit over what you get when you use it with the 2" barrel fitted.

[Dave In Vermont]

This might be a very good time to make a purchase. Baader Aspheric, and the others, are currently reduced in price according to the FLO notice:

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/228440-baader-hyperion-eyepieces-reduced-until-31st-jan/#entry2463238

Clear Skies,

Dave

[spaceboy]

I have had a couple baader aspheric 31mm and I couldn't fault the first one I had offering very good views for its price point in my 250PX. A change of eyepieces seen me foolishly sell that one. When I was in the market once again for a low power eyepiece I didn't think twice about buying another 31mm aspheric. Sadly the performance was not on a par with the one I had previously owned. Now I may have just got a lemon or there is the possibility Baader isn't as stringent with QC and there are good and bad eyepieces out there. I know that it has been said there are good refractors and some not so good refractors but this has to be some what expected with anything that is mass produced.

[TwinkleTwinkle]

what other eyepiece is on par with the baader aspheric 31mm or 36mm? 

thanks for your replies

[John]

what other eyepiece is on par with the baader aspheric 31mm or 36mm? 

thanks for your replies

The Skywatcher Aero ED 30mm and 35mm ?. They are very nice eyepieces, a little better corrected in faster scopes than the Aspherics I've found.

At a slightly lower cost, the Panaview 32mm or 38mm would work fine with your Celestron C8.

All the above are 2" eyepieces.

[cs1cjc]

I bought the 36mm to give as wide a view as possible and a decent step away from my 24mm ES68.  It is nice to use and to my eye is to the edge in the Equinox 120 and the Newtonians (with a GSO coma corrector so operating at about f/5).

[Macavity]

I intend to re-buy(!) the 31mm. I hope they are of consistent manufacturing standard.

But it had proved my "most used" eyepiece with a slow F/12 MAK 150. With field stop at

30-something mm, just about perfect with my "mini two inch" Baader maxbright diagonal! 

(V.few eyepieces make FULL use of a *wider*, heaver, more expensive, 2", diagonal).

I did see a rumour that Aspherics held up rather better at F/5 than the standard Hypes.

From an "aberration" point of view, the 31mm is (anecdotally) preferred over the 36mm. 

A certain well-known "Green" eyepiece (the Delos) seems the natural upgrade path for

Hyperion users? But I am intrigued by the possibilities for the 24mm 82 degree Maxview

in my F5 ST102.  Slightly darker skies, slightly better correction in the faster scope...

My main interest is to more closely investigate eyepiece projection - The Hyperions are

notably *threaded* for such things! Ideally, you should use a longer focal length with a

greater extension, for fewer distortions, so maybe a 31mm plus 40mm extender etc. etc.

Not this month, but hopefully, soon! Save me one (at the discounted rate) for now? lol