EPs for viewing the moon

[Ant F]

just curious to what eye pieces would be good for my skywatcher ed80. how far in could i go. i plan to record with my samsung scb2000 as well.  the standard eye pieces i had with the scope just aint good enough for me.  i need better magnification along with quality if that makes sense.   they need to be 1 1/2" eye pieces as well. 

[ronin]

Usually it is the BST's or the X-Cels, both should good in the ED80.

However I am unsure about the "samsung scb2000" aspect.

If you are attaching a camers for afocal imaging then I do not think the BST's will be relevant. I have some and cannot see how a camera could be attached.

I do not know enough about the X-Cels to be able to suggest they would be suitable or not.

One aspect of the X-Cels is they have a better selection at the lower focal lengths.

[John]

On the Moon, the ED80 can go as high as 200x if the seeing conditions are decent. Eyepieces of 4mm and 3mm focal length would get you to 150x and 200x but you could opt to use a quality barlow lens on longer focal length eyepieces to get there if you don't want to invest in dedicated eyepieces of those focal lengths. 

[YKSE]

If you don't wear glasses, EPs of abbe ortho design are the best for planetary work by conventional wisdom, astro hutech's orthos have more choice of different FL, the less expensive baader classic orthos with the 2.25x QT barlow(can be screwed in EP directly for 1.3x) is another option too.

If you do wear glasses, the Vixen SLV should be an excellent choice according to reviews I've read here.

edit:

PS: A 4mm ortho can be difficult to use because of small size of eye lens.

[F15Rules]

Yep, a good ortho is hard to beat on the moon. Flat field, sharp to the edge..

Dave

[Pig]

The 4mm Vixen SLV works a treat for Moon observations   crisp and full of contrast.

[Dude_with_the_tube]

+1 on Daves aka F15 Rules post,orthos will be hard to beat on planetary views.

if you want the best but still reasonable money,then they are: Pentax XO 2.5mm and 5mm, obviously Pentax orthos in 0.965" but i doubt you will find them easely. next would be Meade research grade orthos(again relatively hard to find) and Faworski orthos,Brandons,followed by  BGO,UO HD and then all the array of different Circles T.

Choose one and use one wisely

[John]

+1 on Daves aka F15 Rules post,orthos will be hard to beat on planetary views.

if you want the best but still reasonable money,then they are: Pentax XO 2.5mm and 5mm, obviously Pentax orthos in 0.965" but i doubt you will find them easely. next would be Meade research grade orthos(again relatively hard to find) and Faworski orthos,Brandons,followed by  BGO,UO HD and then all the array of different Circles T.

Choose one and use one wisely

Might as well add the Zeiss ZAO's and TMB Supermonocentric's into the list for the sake of completeness

That gives the OP a range, on the used market, from around £25 to £400+ to choose from !

[jetstream]

I love my 3-6 Nagler zoom for both of my telescopes,for lunar in particular.The Delos,orthos etc may be a bit better optically,but the convenience and warm caste of the zoom make it great for planetary and lunar IMHO.Mars and Jupiter are great in the 90mm with the zoom too.

[russ.will]

The only note of caution I'd add to the orthos, is that they are a very up close and personal viewing experience that some get on better with than others. I was already struggling at 6mm, but your mileage may vary and the views are exceptional.

I have also had some very nice and easier to access views through Williams Optics SPLs that for the less commited planetary observer, are still very nice EPs.

Russell

[Dude_with_the_tube]

Might as well add the Zeiss ZAO's and TMB Supermonocentric's into the list for the sake of completeness

That gives the OP a range, on the used market, from around £25 to £400+ to choose from !

i mentioned reasonable money John

Zeiss and Monos are not reasonable anymore and only for hard core planetary maniacs.Have seen only a few monos for sale recently but none of the ZAO1 or 2. You dont wanna to go into that garden and smell on those apples.

[John]

i mentioned reasonable money John

Zeiss and Monos are not reasonable anymore and only for hard core planetary maniacs.Have seen only a few monos for sale recently but none of the ZAO1 or 2. You dont wanna to go into that garden and smell on those apples.

I think you will find the Pentax XO's expensive and very rarely for sale. Meade RG's, Favorski's and Brandons, while not uber expensive are pretty rare to find on the used market too.

I owned a 5mm TMB Supermono for a while and compared it extensively with a University Optics 5mm HD ortho which is very similar in optical quality to a Baader GO. I could detect some very slight improvements in planetary contrast on the nights of best viewing conditions with the Supermono but a fair % of the time there was no discernable difference in the views. The Baader GO's / Astro Hutech / Fujiyama orthos can be bought for well under £100 but the TMB Supermonos are £300 or more apiece now, if you can ever find them for sale.

Anyway, at 4mm and 3mm the eye relief of orthos and the tiny eye lens makes them a really challenging prospect so designs such as the William Optics SPL or even used Tele Vue Radians will do very well and be comfortable to use. I'd also give a nod to the new Vixen SLV's which Pig has mentioned. I'm finding the 6mm of these a superb planetary and lunar eyepiece and another that does not sacrifice comfort for performance.

Besides the OP may not wish to spend rather more than the scope is worth on each eyepiece !

[AlexB67]

I do really like the moon with my 5mm BGO, a 6,7 or 9 astro hutech ( effectively the same ), are not that costly, note prices even reduced at FLO now at 69 pounds, so barlowed it could be an affordable option if you can tolerate the eye relief, or more to the point, the lack of it and tiny FOV, a cheaper BCO at < 50 pounds coud als be an option, and by all acounts also very good

Seeing it was mentioned, I also like the Radian 6mm on the moon as well and it is very comfortalbe to use with a nice 60 degrees and good eyerelief , a 3 or 4mm second hand Radian could be an option in your scope. There was, and still may be an 4mm Radian available, I snapped up the 8mm the other day and the seller was strongly considering withdrawing the 4mm though, but you could ask.

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

When it comes to contrast, dispite the mag differences, the BGO does have a very crisp image with the blacks that are a bit more of a deep black, which is why I I Iike so much for the moon in particular, and the whites stand a bit more too, in subtle contrast features it shows, but it is very subtle difference. That being being said, the Radian 6mm I have is also fantastic on the moon, they both are great eyepieces. I only notice the differencess by swapping them in an out staight after each other, and I notice the BGO is a bit more neutral on the whites as well in that case, otherwise i couldn't tell if I used one for the night.

For planetary observing I prefer the Radian usually over the BGO, but sometimes it even comes down to what I prefer on the night and what conditions are on offer where the mag difference can come into play too, no clear preference one way or the other except for comfort and FOV the radian wins that contest easily. The Celestron and BSTs mentioned woud be simlar in that comfort zone, probably even more so, since the radians can be a bit picky on eye placement causing blackouts according to some, though personally I do not find it an issue.

If we go the pricy route I may as well throw the pentax XW 3.5mm into the pot, great for everything, FOV, ortho like performance packed into a whopping 70 degrees with a nice eye relief. at least if my XW 7 is anything to go by, the 3.5 should be just as good from what I gather pretty much, I've used it like that with a cheap 2x barlow in my smaller scope a few timesnow, it is still darn good, that eyepiece eats fine contrast features for breakfest.

On a more serious note, I would stick to a budget solution given the scope in question, unless you intend to buy a focal length eyepiece you will use later on with a bigger scope, for example a 6 or 7 mm you would likely use in a bigger scope, so you could barlow that in your current scope to give you the magnification you want.

[Ant F]

see i hook my samsung scb2000 up to my telescope without a lens and it looks tiny, you can make the craters out but thats all.  when i put my celestron 8mm in i can see lots of detail but its just blurry and i want to see details if that makes sense.  i wanna see the edges of the rocks etc and see the shadows.  ive just moved and i seem to have lost most my eye pieces which kinda annoyed me.  i have looked in boxes but cant find them anywhere so im guessing the removal folks stolen them thats the only answer.   

[faulksy]

if your after eps that you can mount your camera on the ts h-rs from modern astronomy allow this, and they are great opticaly