Additional lenses

[Plodge]

Hi - I am a ne owner of a Skywatcher 150P reflector, it came with - 25mm, 10mm & 2*barlow lenses.

Would a 6.5mm or a 4mm lense be worth investing in?

Thanks Pete

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[Schorhr]

Hello Pete,

yes, but two things to be aware of:

-Magnifications above 200 won't be usable all the Time due to Seeing, especially if the object is close to the horizon or above a warm house...

-Plössl eyepieces under 10mm have very short eye relief, Get a 6mm UWA or better yet a bst Explorer or hr Planetary, or Explore scientific ep...

Also you should consider a 2" wide angle eyepiece, it will Show so much more then the 25mm eyepiece you have.

For Deepsky, a eyepiece inbetween yours with 2-3mm Exit pupil is Handy, too.

[ronin]

A 6.5 should be useful, a 4mm will possibly produce a poor image - you would very likely need to buy a 4mm that was fairly good and so more costly. Thinl TV used to do one in a now discontinued line,

If you are looking at plossls then they may not be suitable, and the eye relief is minimal and can be uncomfortable. I would certainly advice against a 4mm plossl.

Usual initial upgrades are the BST Starguiders(£49) and the Celestron X-Cel's(£65), neither do a 6.5mm. The X-Cels do come in a 7mm.

There is another BST (Wide angle I think) that does come in 6mm, but so far not a lot reported on them, the Starguiders are simply the one most get. Others that may come in a good selection of focal lengths are the clones of the TMB planetary's - reasonable eyepieces but they do not perform as well as the X-Cels and the Starguiders. The "best" planetary I have heard of is the one from and branded TS.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

4mm could be OK-ish under really good conditions, but a 5mm (giving 150x) may hit a sweet spot. Something like a BST explorer, TS HR Planetary, or Vixen LV (especially secondhand) could fit the bill nicely.

[TractionMan]

You should be able to get quite a bit of use out of a 6.5mm with the 150P. As mentioned above a 5mm is a bit of a sweet spot in that scope when it comes to planetary/lunar view. On some occasions I've barlowed my 7mm to get 3.5mm but it's rarely possible to get good viewing from that.

[Plodge]

Thanks all - new to this so all advice appreciated.

Thanks Pete

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[Stu_]

With my 150p I use 5mm, 9mm & 25mm, as these cover planetary, lunar & DSO viewing well.

I still need to upgrade my 25mm, as it is the stock eyepiece, still not sure if to stay with a 25mm or go wider or both :-D

[Plodge]

Hi Schrohr - thanks for the reply. I am new to all this - you sugested a 2" lense - how does that work with my 1.25" standard set up?

[Schorhr]

Hello Plodge,

I thought it was the 150p with 1.25 and 2" crayford focuser. What model is it exactly?

[Plodge]

Hi Schrohr - is the 2" you refer to the focal length of the lense?

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[Schorhr]

Hello Plodge, the 2" is the diameter of the eyepiece.

A 2" focuser can take 2" eyepieces and 1.25" with adapter or adaption.

2" eyepieces won't fit into a 1.25" focuser, and even with adapters the field will be limited due to the smaller tube.

A 1.25" 32mm 52 Degree eyepiece or a 40mm 40 degree eyepiece will show about the maximum field on 1.25".

With a 2" focuser you can use eyepieces with larger aparent field of view, for example 32mm 70 degree.