What's next?

[Caldwell14]

I have just had re-jig of eyepieces. After flogging some Plossls' to fund a Panoptic I am now down to 4 eyepieces. Now I could probably live with my little selection, a 32mm Plossl, a 6mm & 12mm Radian plus my nice new 19mm Panoptic. What would you add to the collection? I have never used a Barlow or Powermate but don't believe even the 2.5 Powermate would be an advantage

[estwing]

3-6 nag zoom?....tbh that's a nice spread of power across the range....a filter?....uhc or oiii?..stop and make do with what you've got?....or 12" dob!

[bingevader]

I was going to suggest something for the moon, if that's your thing.

The 3-6 zoom might fit the bill, although I can't manage 400x myself.

UHC filter might be a good addition too. 

[Dude_with_the_tube]

for your scope with focal length of 1200mm nagler 3-6mm zoom will be a waste of money as you will never be able to use the 3mm setting or even 4mm,just too much magnification so be smart and dont waste 200 quid on eye piece you will barely use,also keeping in mind that you already have a 6mm eye piece.your 6mm radian is giving you X200 and will be your most used eye piece for high powers.i dont think you even need a barlow or powermate as your spread of 6-12-19-32mm seems to be covering a nice range.i would say,go out,have a couple of sessions with your current set up and see yourself if you are happy with your set up or you want to change something.

it is easy to suggest something and play with other peoples money but will that suggestion work for you?

[Lorne]

Possibly swap the 32mm plossl for a 2" EP with  similar focal length to give you more sky in your view..... assuming you can fit the 2" in your focusser!

[Jim Steele]

Possibly swap the 32mm plossl for a 2" EP with similar focal length to give you more sky in your view..... assuming you can fit the 2" in your focusser!

I was going to suggest something similar, 35 mm panoptic mabye.. Gosh this hobby ain't cheap

[alan potts]

You have a very high quality mirror in you scope and before seeing what other said I though 3-6mm Nagler zoom, it will tick all the right boxes on nights of clear seeing. The other end of the scale the 35mm Panoptic is a dam good eyepiece and my most used one, sharp as a razor in all my scopes from edge to edge. 

[swamp thing]

27mm Panoptic.

[Rustysplit]

Another vote for the 27mm Panoptic. Will give spectacular results on dense star fields and larger DSO's. I love mine    400x on a good night is worthwhile thinking about, a brief go last night on the moon in the garden, and I was able to use 600X. I have had it up to 720x once, but that was exceptional. Perhaps a decent barlow for the occassional high power? Or maybe a 3 or maybe 4mm Plossl.

[ronin]

Why bother?

Stick to what you have then work out if there is something missing.

It might surprise you but you do not actually have to spend the money you may or may not have.

[bingevader]

He's only asking. 

Is it possible to achieve over 400x magnification with an 8" dob'? I know with mine, a 6mm and 2x barlow, it's very nearly, but not quite, maybe on a very good night. But with the 5mm and the barlow, the exit pupil is too small and it's unusable.

But back on topic: Sticking with the moon and the extra magnification, how about a nice 8mm plossl for nights when the 6mm is too much and a 2x barlow? 

[Moonshane]

Your observing preferences will determine whether more eyepueces are worth it. What you gave will cover most situations. I have the 6-3mm nagler zoom and use it almost every session despite having focal lengths from 1840 to 900mm. In my 6" f11 (1600mm) it gives 257-550x and is wonderful on double stars as it is with all my scopes. My best views of planets and moon have been with my 16" masked to 170mm at 300x or more. It may not be always possible but it is worth it in my book.

If ever over near manchester you would be welcome to try mine

[swamp thing]

He's only asking.  :

:grin:

[alan potts]

Alan,

X600, I would have to have a sit down if I used that amount of power on a scope, I went to X330 the other night on the Mak and came over all faint.

[Mike73]

Alan,

X600, I would have to have a sit down if I used that amount of power on a scope, I went to X330 the other night on the Mak and came over all faint.

You should get one of these Alan 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gelert-Inflatable-Arm-Chair-Assorted/dp/B00BLHCYBO/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1407413762&sr=8-3&keywords=inflatable+chairs

[Dude_with_the_tube]

everything is possible to achieve,but question is how often? Moon can take insane magnifications,tried it my self with 4.7mm barlowed but one thing for sure,image quality wasnt there anymore,same could be said for Saturn.its the blooming UK skies what doesnt support high magnification and most often also seeing conditions.its wet,damp and not dry like in Arizona deserts where X700 is normal thing to have.As such,stick to your 200 or 255 mag and be happy i am after quality image not insane magnifications just to see a blurry speck  

[Moonshane]

I agree that it is possibly useful for limited applications but i use mine every single session for doubles and it gives tight airy disks and rings esp at exit pupils below about 0.5mm

[Mike73]

We can all guess at what EP would be best for the OP but without any idea of what he likes to look at its really tough because there are just so many aspects in the hobby that requires slightly different EP's.

A lot of large open clusters/ nebulas like large TFoV's, double stars and PN's can take huge amounts of magnification while if you really like hunting galaxies its best aim for a decent spread of exit pupil sizes.

So thats my 2p's worth, pick your EP's with what you like to look at in mind.

[Rustysplit]

.As such,stick to your 200 or 255 mag and be happy i am after quality image not insane magnifications just to see a blurry speck

I am not suggesting using high powers just for the sake of it. Last night the moon was sharp as a pin at 600x, at 400x ish it was lovely, if a little fast travelling across the fov Sure, for most nights a more conservative power maintains image quality, but I have found that the ability to use power is there more often than you might at first think. Steve, swampthing, is a great advocate of power on globs. I had not really tried until he suggested it, well worth it for a fov filled with stars.

I reckon Mike has nailed it above though. Respect.

[Caldwell14]

Thanks for all the replies chaps. Just to clarify my main interests are double and multiple star systems closely followed by planets and open star clusters, and in decreasing order nebulars, globular clusters finally galaxys'. 200x in my experience is the maximum for my scope, very nice planetary views indeed consistently at 200x. Above that, it's hit and miss really, a 5mm Radian might prove useful the odd night. A 27mm Panoptic is very appealling, but would it be a marked improvement over my 32mm Plossl? I did use to find a 8mm Radian to be very useful when seeing was UK poor. That said my other high power ep was a 5mm Radian used in my old 10 inch Europa.

Om another off topic it's amazing how much brighter my present scope is from my previous reflector which was 8 years old and had 2 inches difference in aperture. Both with Hilux coatings. The Europa had lots of holes in the coating and had previously been well looked after by a well known UK astronomer.... 25 years, I think not

[John]

250x ought to be entirely useful with your scope. I was using that with a Celestron 8" F/5 newtonian a couple of weeks back and had fine views of Saturn, Mars and some tight binary stars on a night of decent but not exceptional seeing. The optics of the Celestron are the same as the Skywatcher 200P but I'd have thought yours would be better still.

With my 12" Orion Optics dob 227x is where I start on high power viewing usually with 265x and 318x often seeing use on the Moon and planets, more sometimes on binary stars.

If I had a 1/10 wave PV 8" scope I think I'd be a tad dissapointed if 200x was it's top wack, unless the seeing was poor.

[Caldwell14]

Thanks for the replies chaps. I had considered a 5mm Radian. I used to use one in my old Europa which was a 4.8fl and it gave some really good views, although I often back onto a 7mm if seeing conditions were less than perfect. Would a Barlow or Powermate be of any use do you think?

[Caldwell14]

BTW I have only had it up to 200x using my current highest mag ep, which is a 6mm Radian. I had wonderful views of all the planets, really very nice indeed. I had some particular good views of Jupiter with some really sharp transits . The XL has produced (And I can't believe I am saying this) views better than, and more consistent than my old ED120 ever did, 1/10Wave perhaps?

[estwing]

do you know what...i dont think i'd bother with a barlow just yet, your ep's have a good spread across the range

[alan potts]

Swamp thing likes to use power on Dobs but his Dob is the size of a 'G plan' coffee table.

CW14, you could do a lot worse than a 5mm Radian, trust me.

Alan