2" lenes for skyliner 200p

[O2B3]

What are the best 2" lenes to get for my skyliner 200p where is the best and cheapest place to get them?

[faulksy]

depends on your budget, and what you like to view. is it planets, double stars dso,s ?

[floppygoose]

I prefer to stick with 1.25" lenses, I'm not sure 2" lenses can give too much visual improvement, and they are too big for my lens case

Phil

[John]

2" eyepieces give you wider fields of view at low or medium magnifications. They don't offer any advantages at medium to higher magnifications so the manufacturers stick to the 1.25" size for that use.

It's common to end up with a mixed set with 1.25" eyepieces for high to medium power and a 2" eyepiece or two for the lower / wider viewing.

A good and popular 2" eyepiece for the Skyliner 200P is the Skywatcher Panaview 32mm which costs £79 new. Alternatively you can keep an eye out for used eyepieces on the UK Astro Buy & Sell website and save around 30%-40% on new prices:

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

[Charic]

I'm just about to go out in the car with my 2" 32mm Panaview.  Haven't  fully  tested at a dark site, since purchase, but I know its going to be good on M31,( my reason to purchase the lens) as my last experience with the SW25mm could not get the whole nebula into the field of view.

[John]

M31 is huge under really dark skies - 3 degrees across or more which is 6x the apparent diameter of the Moon.

[Lee M]

I think the best 'bang for buck' low power / widefield eyepiece for the 200p and similar at the moment is the 1.25" 24mm Maxvision 68'.

For what you get for your money it's a ridiculously good deal.

http://www.explorescientific.co.uk/en/Eyepieces/

The 2" 82' version is also available and if I was in that market I'd certainly give it a go.

[Ags]

I'm getting a 8" dob in May, and my plan for EPs is as follows:

Current: 24mm hyperion, 17mm hyperion, 9mm speer-waler, 6mm TS HR Planetary, SR4 (for a laugh, but it was usable on Mars).

What I think a 200P deserves: 24mm ES 82deg, 14mm ES 82deg, 9mm speer-waler, 6.7mm ES 82deg, 4.7mm ES 82deg. But the first thing I would get is a cheap 38mm 68deg erfle so I can find the cursed DSOs! Then I would get the ES 6.7mm for Jupiter and Saturn. Next time Mars is round, I'd pick up the 4.7mm.

[Charic]

The Moon had to show at some stage, so only had about 45 mins at my new 'dark site' but I'm quite impressed with the space offered to me. From my own garden, I don't see any skies to the South, only above and limited views NE-E. The new site allows me to see  the Southern skies like never before, and what a view. dark enough to warrant some good sessions in the future, but the glow from the Moon started to interfere, well before I could see the Moon rising through the tree line.

That said, due to the wash-out by Moonlight, I never really got to see  M31 in all its glory, but still more visible than from my back garden. But to be honest I was transfixed on the great nebula in Orion M42. Could I really see clouds? Obviously no colours like lavender ect that you`ll see in the photos, but I've never seen Orion  quite like this before. truly amazing.

I've only got the one 2" lens for low power, wide views. Not sure I need anything else,  All the BST's are 60° AFOV so wide enough for my use.  It will be expensive  purchasing just 2" EPs.

At the same magnifications on the same night, would wider views be more beneficial if we set our telescopes side by side. If I had all that space around everything I looked at, I'd be wanting to try and magnify even further, but there are limits, that are too easily reached.

Unless I upgraded  my mirror substantially to 12" or more, I think a set of 2" EPs would be too excessive. But you'll need at least one.