Eyepiece range

[Nigele2]

Well thanks for all the input all over the forum but I'm done.  Last night I had both my scopes on the patio and had a jolly good look at the moon, Jupiter and the stars.  Bit of light pollution around and a bit of smudgy cloud passed by, and Orion hid behind a house, so no DSOs but great fun for 2 hours.

My new Tele Vue 32mm was the star but to be fair my range of standard issue Meades and unknowns did ok when you think they all 5 cost less than the Tele Vue    But I just wanted that clearer chrisper image of the Tele Vue.  Don't get me wrong the Tele Vue wasn't 6 times better than the rest but even I could note the difference.

But equally the budget of £600 is running dry so BST 5mm and BST 12mm and £50 on a filter are on their way    I was going BST 8 and 15mm for a while but  well you know, we all dream of the rare days 

Just need a power cable to stop blowing the AA batteries and I'm done.  Time to get down to the real job.

But had you told me the percentage spends in my sig when I started I wouldn't have believed you.

[bomberbaz]

I wouldnt dare put my total spends up just in case the mrs saw it :-D haha

[RikM]

For my main observing kit, I have spent easily 4x more on eyepieces and filters than I did on the telescope.

[Nigele2]

For my main observing kit, I have spent easily 4x more on eyepieces and filters than I did on the telescope.

Stop it - you'll scare the children    

[Nigele2]

Well my two BSTs arrived today 5mm and 12mm.  Only used them in daylight but compared with my bog standard ones they are staggering.  Very pleased with FoV and crispness of image.  Wow wow         To be honest I can't see using anything except he two of them and my 32mm Tele Vue Plossl.  But I'll keep the boggos so when I sell the telescopes I can offer a starter set of eyepieces.

I read somewhere that an advantage of buying the same type was that some, including the BSTs, had a standard focus and thus if the 12mm was focused you could drop in the 5mm and it would also be in focus.  Is this true?  

I also received my £49 filter and I could see nothing in daylight.  I then found a sodium/white light and it appeared red.  Obviously blocks something

Can't wait to try them outside but chucking it down at the moment.  But tomorrow night there is a possibility.  Meantime I'll just have to focus on rain drops on the window

[John]

I read somewhere that an advantage of buying the same type was that some, including the BSTs, had a standard focus and thus if the 12mm was focused you could drop in the 5mm and it would also be in focus.  Is this true?  

This is true for some eyepiece ranges but not for all. The term used is "par focal" but I don't know if all the BST eyepieces are par focal with each other as I've not used them.

Even with so called par focal ranges, I've noticed that often some small adjustment of focus is needed when the eyepiece is changed. It is nice when they are pretty close to focusing at the same point though.

[Charic]

...... I have read many articles here about the limits of magnification that are effective in the UK but I'm sorry to say I do not yet understand the maths behind all of that stuff so would appreciate some advice on what to buy next.

Thanks

Derek

  DRT........

Q. What causes the stars to twinkle in the night sky? 

A; The atmosphere we live in.

A point source of light i.e. Starlight has to pass through different layers of our atmosphere, and is easily disturbed by those layers, causing what we know as twinkling.The atmosphere and its turbulence acts like a prism, messing with the light source. Your eye is capable of viewing a Star using just one rod (light receptor ) but because the light is messed about through the atmosphere, more than one rod can detect the starlight, and you then perceive that the star is twinkling as it passes from rod to rod. Not only that, but the atmosphere is contaminated with particles of dust, sand, you name it, water vapour, chemicals, all sorts.

That's the reasons why the UK seeing conditions are often mentioned, and the reasons for the reduction in the quality or abilities of your telescope. In perfect conditions, clean, clear, and if it were possible, no atmosphere your telescope will easily achieve twice its aperture, in magnification. So my telescopes aperture rounded down to 200mm could achieve 400x power. However, due to the atmosphere or "seeing conditions" you can quite happily reduce that power by half and expect decent results, some folk  still manage to reach the limits of their telescopes on those one-off good nights. I've viewed the Moon at 375x and was blown away with the image quality, yet Jupiter was pretty poor on another occasion.

So basically, looking through our atmosphere to another World, has its drawbacks, and limitations for  garden astronomers. 

As for the limits for eyepieces, I have used this little application to good effect. http://www.stargazing.net/naa/scopemath.htm it does the maths for you.

[Charic]

Well my two BSTs arrived today 5mm and 12mm.  Only used them in daylight but compared with my bog standard ones they are staggering.  Very pleased with FoV and crispness of image.  Wow wow         To be honest I can't see using anything except he two of them and my 32mm Tele Vue Plossl.  But I'll keep the boggos so when I sell the telescopes I can offer a starter set of eyepieces.

I read somewhere that an advantage of buying the same type was that some, including the BSTs, had a standard focus and thus if the 12mm was focused you could drop in the 5mm and it would also be in focus.  Is this true?  

I also received my £49 filter and I could see nothing in daylight.  I then found a sodium/white light and it appeared red.  Obviously blocks something

Can't wait to try them outside but chucking it down at the moment.  But tomorrow night there is a possibility.  Meantime I'll just have to focus on rain drops on the window

..........I thought the same when I had just the 8mm & 18mm and the SW 25mm.  But look at the purchase order in my signature. And still want  a 32-42 2"?

[Moonshane]

here's my own kind of logic. you can substitute the brands of course.

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/188794-eyepiece-groups/

[DRT]

Wow! That's a great set of lenses you have. One of the main points I have taken from this discussion is that it is good to have a wide range of sizes and types of eyepiece to give flexibility in terms of different objects and viewing conditions. You seem to have all bases covered on that score!

[Moonshane]

do also consider this thread http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/166265-cheap-vs-expensive/

you don't have to spend buckets of cash