Top-end eyepiece advice

[DRT]

Later this week I will take delivery of my new Celestron CPC 1100 GPS XLT.

Whilst waiting, I have developed eyepiece-fever

The 2800mm fl probably means that some of my EPs will be redundant given that common advice here and elsewhere is that around 200x is about the limit of useful magnification in the UK. I am therefore thinking that I should spend my cash on something in the 13-15mm range (or longer?) if I want to buy a top-end EP.

I will probably venture into photography at some point but my main interest and objective at this point is to use this scope to get high quality observations of the moon, Jupiter, other planets and some of the more popular DSOs at a good level of maginfication.

So, If I wanted to splash out on a Pentax or Televue EP which one should I buy to allow me to do all or some of that?

[DRT]

Curse the inability to edit posts here!

By "which one", I mean "which focal length?".

[John]

I'll say this before others chip in but you could do a lot worse than picking something from the Tele Vue Delos or the Pentax XW ranges. They are about as good as wide angle eyepieces get 

There is a 14mm in the Pentax XW range and in the Delos range. Your scope will actually be able to handle higher powers than 200x under decent seeing conditions so you might want to consider more than one of these gems in the budget will allow. They retail for £250 - £280 apiece.

[estwing]

13mm ethos..

[Qualia]

Wow. What a difficult choice. Ethos or Delos .

[alanjgreen]

My most used eyepieces in my CPC1100 are

Delos 14mm - planets & globular clusters

Delos 17mm - great for DSO (& planets) and nice black background

Nagler 22mm - great for DSO and small clusters - 2 inch so you need a 2inch diagonal (My most used eyepiece!)

Nagler 31mm - provides nice wide field for clusters & nebulas - 2 inch so you need a 2 inch diagonal

Panoptic 41mm - can't stop using it. Seems to give a darker background than the nagler and the widest view possible in the CPC1100 (i love it)

Sometimes for planets, I can get 14mm Delos views but UK skies don't seem to let me go much lower

Best purchase you can make is to get a feather touch focuser - CPC1100 is back heavy and if you add a crayford then it will only get heavier

Focusing is easy with the feathertouch and it adds no weight to the back of your scope - something to consider if you intend to purchase "heavy" televue eyepieces

I ended up adding a ADM balance bar to compensate for the weight of the eyepieces - especially now I have a binoviewer

[Druid]

Alan's choices make a lot of sense to me as a relatively recent C11 owner. 

My eyepieces are mostly Delos, plus a 24mm Nagler-clone from ES and a 40mm Celestron plossl. 

The 14mm Delos is the most magnification I've ever found useful in the conditions where I am (x200)

I got a 2" diagonal so I could use the 24mm and that's pretty effective for the sort of stuff Alan mentions re the 22mm Nagler (x117)

The ones I wish I had are something around 17mm and something around 30mm, A 31mm Nagler seems a no-brainer, but I wonder if a 17mm Ethos would justify the price difference over the equivalent Delos on that scope? 

Also, with your current eyepiece collection, you might find you can get all the coverage you need at a bargain price using the Celestron reducer. 

[AlexB67]

Wow. What a difficult choice. Ethos or Delos .

Sometimes it is a tough old life isn't it with all the decisions we got to make in this hobby Derek, Hope I did not trigger this after you decided to buy the scope under the influence of some quality Malt the other night and posed the question of extras. If you get into trouble with the missus I'll take the blame for any extra ocular fever I may have induced :0)

[hunterknox]

I sold my 10mm Ethos to get a 10mm XW and optically I'd say they're on a par. I personally like the XW better because of the extra eye relief and shielding (twist-up eye cup). With the Ethos I found the low eye cup and large glass surface meant that I'd catch a distracting reflection off some of the surrounding surrounding stray lights. I'm at a rural site but I imagine the situation would apply more so for those under urban or suburban skies.

[John]

I have to say I'm a little surprised that 200x is seen as often the max useful in an 11" scope 

[DRT]

Sometimes it is a tough old life isn't it with all the decisions we got to make in this hobby Derek, Hope I did not trigger this after you decided to buy the scope under the influence of some quality Malt the other night and posed the question of extras. If you get into trouble with the missus I'll take the blame for any extra ocular fever I may have induced :0)

Alex,

By strange coincidence one of my best friends from another money-draining hobby of mine has the same first name and second initial as you, but he is a 63 rather than 67 vintage. I have run out of "it was Alex who made me do it"-style excuses so I'm not going to be able to take you up on your kind offer as Mrs T will hink you and he are the same person and I'll be rumbled from the get go

[DRT]

I have to say I'm a little surprised that 200x is seen as often the max useful in an 11" scope 

I'm just quoting what I have read here. I'm happy to be proved wrong!

[DRT]

From various replies it seems that my expectations on limited magnification might be too pesimistic. I will wait on the delivery of the scope and try out my X-Cels before pulling the trigger on a Pentax.

[L8-Nite]

For a premium quality eyepiece for planetary and lunar, consider the 12mm Brandon.

[DRT]

For a premium quality eyepiece for planetary and lunar, consider the 12mm Brandon.

Thanks, Mike. I haven't heard of those before so will do some digging.

[Druid]

On the x200 maximum question. I live in a light polluted area and haven't had the C11 very long. So I'm certainly not suggesting that's a limit for others. Just my experience so far over maybe 8-12 hrs total observing time. 

[Druid]

Oh, and my next step up would be about x350 ...

[AlexB67]

In my 10 inch 400x on the moon has not been unusable mag on occasion  -  I would say for me personally anyway.  I suppose the 200x mag guideline is a very rough general one of you had a starter set of eyepieces for planetary it would not be bad advice for Saturn Jupiter.

There are exceptions to every rule I'd say depending on target. After all I am the nutcase that used 300x  on Jupiter a couple of times recently  I don't regret the experience one bit, even if it was only worth it for a couple of seconds for the extra immersion and large scale clear red spot. I would  not argue with the fact that mostly it is overkill and there is nothing to be gained though. 

[Pig]

+ 1 for the Delos, they also have a handy adjustable feature to enable you to set the eyerelief to suit.

I have never used any of the Pentax range so I am unable to advise. However,  their reputation for excellent quality is well known and if there good enough for John they are certainly good enough for me.

The 12mm Delos would not be wasted on the moon in your scope at 233 x magnification and it would also be suitable for Mars & Saturn, when the seeing allows.

The 17.3mm will also be great on planets and DSO's as mentioned by Alan above.

Well that's my two-penneth worth based on my experiences using a 2350 focal length SCT with Delos eyepieces, In truth there are many options and it will take some trials to find what suits you best.

[Mr Spock]

I have to say I'm a little surprised that 200x is seen as often the max useful in an 11" scope

Agreed. My C9.25 is most useful between x235 and x294, going up to x392 on a steady night.

For a C11 I'd want a minimum of 12mm and 10mm eyepieces (x233 and x280) for planetary, maybe an 8mm for those rare nights

For deep sky I use 22mm and 17mm T4 Naglers. For the widest view I have a 42mm LVW.

[L8-Nite]

Thanks, Mike. I haven't heard of those before so will do some digging.

Here at http://www.vernonscope.com

You can also research the Brandon threads on the CN site.

[DRT]

Best purchase you can make is to get a feather touch focuser

I just read the instructions of how to install that and am now hiding behind the sofa hoping it was just a nightmare

Do astro shops fit such things for a reasonable fee?

[Tinker1947]

You could buy some Baader Hyperions, there not top of the range but they work well in a C11, the 36mm is really nice and the 17mm i use a lot, i have managed  to use a 7mm XW on a few occasions....

[alan potts]

If you are going to spend on either Pentax or Televue then it really matters not which you buy. they are all very good. Having a similar scope and for many years now I would say that I use the 14mm Delos and before 14mm XW and  14mm Meade UWA the most for this level of magnification. The Meade performed very well indeed at this scope speed, F10 is fairly easy on eyepieces and the Meade is much cheaper than a Delos or Pentax

With your scope being shorter than mine you may need to go to 12mm -13mm though in which case the Naglers are very good and I have or have had all of them around this F/L and if money is no object then the 13mm Ethos will never disappoint.

Alan

[alanjgreen]

My opinion would be that it is best to buy an eyepiece that you know you will use "all the time" as your first TeleVue. I can think of nothing worse that having your most expensive eyepiece sitting there in the case as the power "is too much for tonight"

You want your best eyepiece "in the scope"!

Do consider the feather touch, it doesn't matter how good your eyepiece is, if you can't quite get sharp focus.