Filters and Eyepiece

[cagen]

Hi Guys,

I have a Skywatcher Explorer 130P SynScan AZ GOTO telescope.

I came across a post BrantUK made in this topic "Skywatcher Explorer 130P SynScan AZ GOTO lense help"

I guess after some time viewing with your stock scope, you start to ask the question "How can I make my viewing better?".

After viewing the topic above, I now realize I need to get at least a filter and a suitable eyepiece.

Could anyone please point me in the right direction with my first post here? :  Skywatcher Explorer 130P SynScan AZ GOTO lense help

Light Pollution Filters
 

Baader Hyperion Eyepieces

Thanks in advance.

[ronin]

Cannot really help with the filters as I do not use any.

Also an LP filter used to be for the yellow sodium lights, they emit a narrow enough set of wavelengths that they can be effectively removed. If you have the newer LED lights then an LP filter would not help. As the assorted councils change over to LED then an LP filter will become more and more useless, since the wavelengths involved will not be blocked.

Check Hyperions, I seem to recall they do not work great on fast scopes and your 130P will be f/5 so may be too fast for them to give the best results.

[rwilkey]

Hi Cagen, I don't think an LPR filter (light pollution reduction) will improve your views unless you live in a heavily light-polluted area, personally, I prefer the views without.  LPR filters darken the sky far too much.  On the Baader Hyperions, they do not work well on anything faster than f/7, so would be unsuitable for your telescope, as well as a bit on the bulky side.  Plossls will work better, as will BST StarGuiders/Explorers from 'Sky's the Limit' here: http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_trksid=p2050601.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.Xbst+starguider&_nkw=bst+starguider&_sacat=0&_from=R40

[AlexB67]

Hi Cagen,

On that sort of budget close to a hundred pounds you have quite a few options. I don't have your scope, but it being GOTO balance could be an issue ?, apart from what is already said, the hyperions may be on the heavy side for that anyway, something to consider.

If you tell us a bit more what you want from the eyepieces  it will be easier to recommend things such as

• Do you wear glasses when observing.
• Do you want wider angle eyepieces specifically. 
• Are you okay with a FOV around 50 degrees or so and tight eyerelief in which case you do not need to spend a whole lot to get some very good quality optics, or are you mainly looking for an optical improvement such as sharpness, in other words mostly quality over quantity of sky imrpovement.

Without doubt the BSTs will provide a good step up as an all rounder eyepiece upgrade and are therefore are often recommended.  My personal view why I think that is.

• They are very easy on the eye positioning with an adjustable eyecup and easy to use with or without glasses.
• Offer a generous FOV of 60 degrees, around 10 degrees more compared to stock eyepieces.
• Good contrast improvement.
• Not too heavy, pretty much any scope will accept them
• Feel well build to me.
• As a set all round performance is good value for planets and deep sky, without excelling at either,  but they do provide that to a very good level, and in some cases so good it would be hard to tell you are looking through something that cheap with so much bang for buck compared to something expensive, depending what you are looking at and how good the skies are.
• They are reasonably well corrected across the FOV for an f/5 scope for maintaining sharpness,  though some are better than others I find depending on focal length.
• Decent on axis  ( meaning center of the view ) sharpness but not outstanding or an appreciable upgrade in that regard, that is if by my comparison looking through a super plossls that came with one of my scopes Is anything to go by, and comparing to more costly items.
• Reflections and ghosting can be  a bit of an issue on brighter targets like planets  in them in some cases I find, but nothing too off putting, perfectly useable.

In a nutshell, considering the 49 nine pounds as an all rounder upgrade they are hard deal to beat.

If you are prepared to accept a smaller FOV, eye relief is not that important to you I would also consider other options such as decent plossls and take a look the second hand market for some options if not in a rush. For example, In that  range II would consider the ortho range,  they are very narrow FOV though at 40 degree or so, though the BCO range do offer 50 degrees.  TV and revelation GSO plossls offer 50 degrees also,  all of these provide sharp and good contrast views at low cost, but you will probably find them to be less comfortable to use over the BST range in short focal lengths in particular. 

Lots of options, just ask away with specific questions. Hopefully we can provide some satisfactory answers.

[Mem]

A Baader Neodinium filter is a great filter to use when viewing planets and will enhance the detail on most planets at he same time reducing the light pollution.