Eyepiece for Skywatcher 150/750 f5 reflector

[Juan Carlos]

Hello,

I'm new here so thank you for accept me and congratulations for this excellent board.

Recently I adquired my first telescope, a Skywatcher 150/750 f5 reflector, and I have to confess that I'm delighted with the toy.

I live in the mountains so I'm usually happy too with the seeing of the sky. No houses or lights 20 km around. (I think this is a relevant point for my consult).

I've noticed that eyepieces supplied with the telescope are not the best quality (10mm - 25 mm - 2x Barlow lens).

I'd like a medium quality 5 or 6 mm eyepiece for planets and Moon suitable to my telescope. And my second goal will be a 25 to 40 mm for deep sky.

Any advice will be very appreciate.

Kind regards.

Juan Carlos

[Dark Knight Gazer]

Hi and welcome!

I have the same scope with additional eyepieces - see below.

The BSTs are great value for money and to me, perform very well.  I would recommend getting 2 for the moment, maybe a 12mm to use with your Barlow.  This will allow you to work out if getting the 5mm BST would be worth it depending on your seeing.

DKG

[Juan Carlos]

Hi and welcome!

I have the same scope with additional eyepieces - see below.

The BSTs are great value for money and to me, perform very well.  I would recommend getting 2 for the moment, maybe a 12mm to use with your Barlow.  This will allow you to work out if getting the 5mm BST would be worth it depending on your seeing.

DKG

Thank you for your advice!

I've to say that my Barlow is the cheapest one, not good stuff. I will see these BST but I think that my first eyepiece will be used without a Barlow, this is the reason for think in something around 5-6mm. With 12mm and a nice Barlow I'd get x62,5 and x125, but I'd like a first eyepiece for planets and Moon.

JC

[ronin]

As you are in Spain, check that Sky's the Limit will ship to you StL

That is their ebay site link.

Otherwise you may need to look at TS for the same eyepiece, TS however have it under their own brand of "TS"

On the TS site it is called the TS NED eyepiece, €74.

Information is the save you hunting round as the eyepiece is good and can come under a few different names and prices. Sky's the Limit are generally the best price but TS may simply be an easier source for you in Spain.

[Juan Carlos]

Thank you one more time. I will visit your links.

My doubt is too about what size (in mm) is the best option at this moment, with my telescope and for planetary. Perhaps 5mm is not good, and is better 6 or 7 mm.

[ronin]

The BST or TS NED come in 5mm, 8mm, 12mm, 15mm, 18mm and 25mm.

Seems that the 8mm is generally very well regarded however that should be useable in about all situations, which could be why it is well liked. If you want to view planets then you will have to consider the 5mm, you will want the magnification it provides and in your scope it should be OK.

There are lots of ideas about the number of eyepieces as a minimum. If chosen right then possibly 3 will do but 4 is safer. For planets you will I guess need the 5mm, 8mm and a 25mm.

There is a 3.2mm variant of the BST eyepiece, but that could be too much for the scope to handle. On the other hand if it worked then you would have a good planetary eyepiece. Ask about that later, if you feel a bit mad.

If you specifically wanted a 6mm then there is the William Optics planetary that has a good reputation. I tend however to stick to a set as in all BST's as they are parfocal and that means less refocusing when changing eyepieces.

I suppose the question is 5mm first or 8mm first.

The 8mm would be a good all round eyepiece, it might also deliver something with the barlow - that is a bit of a risk. However you will not have lost anything, the barlow came with the scope and you would still have a good 8mm.

8mm in a 750mm scope is close to 94x fine for Jupiter, when it reappears, but a little low in power for Saturn, which is around at present.

[CJE]

Hi and welcome!

I have the same scope with additional eyepieces - see below.

The BSTs are great value for money and to me, perform very well.  I would recommend getting 2 for the moment, maybe a 12mm to use with your Barlow.  This will allow you to work out if getting the 5mm BST would be worth it depending on your seeing.

DKG

I have same scope and mount and also have the BSTs, 8mm & 18mm, (5mm warpped up for my birthday) both superb value and love them both !!

[Juan Carlos]

Thank you very much. Your info is very valuable for me.

Kind regards.

JC

[wookie1965]

I have same scope and all the above advice is valid the 8mm is a great eyepiece for Planets the 15mm was voted best in its class by Sky at night magazine last January, Im only missing the 25mm which i will be obtaining.

[YKSE]

Hi,

My recommendation is that you should give the EPs and barlow a little more time before spending money on new purchase.

For 5mm or 6mm EPs, there're some quite good EPs for viewing planets and the Moon, if you don't wear glasses, Abbe orthos should be among the best without costing a fortune. Used Baader Genuine Ortho (BGO), AstroHutech Ortho, Fujiyama Ortho or even a new 6mm Baader Classic Ortho are very reasonably priced.

If you wear glasses, then you need EPs with good eye relief, do have a look at the advices here

Buying used EPs will save you some good money in the long run.

[jonathan]

I have the Skywatcher 150P reflector telescope, I purchased the Celestron X-Cel LX 5mm and it works very well under good sky conditions, it has good eye relief which is important as I wear glasses (though I could probably observe without them).

[Juan Carlos]

Thank you very much. Now I've idea! I'll look this eyepieces.

Greetings.

JC