Eyepiece type

[Dom1961]

I am thinking of getting the Celestron 130EQ w/o MD and it comes with 10 & 20 mm eyepieces. It has f/5. I will probably get a 2x barlow anyway, are there any other eye pieces you recommend bearing in mind that i dont have a lot of money to spend as im a teenager. Also im a beginner .

[adarshajoisa]

Dom, I have the Celestron Astromaster 130EQ without the motor drive. If you're a beginner, you can observe a lot of objects with the stock 10 and 20mm EPs. I have observed open and globular clusters, emission and planetary nebulae, all planets upto Uranus, and the Comet lovejoy, all with the stock 10 and 20mm EPs, and in extremely light polluted skies, too. The EPs provided are quite good for a beginner. I suggest you explore the sky with the stock EPs. Once you get a better idea of what you want to observe, you can buy EPs specialised for that. I am mainly interested in planetary observing. Hence I purchased a 3x Barlow and a baader hyperion eyepiece.

If you accurately keep your telescope collimated, and let it cool down for at least half an hour before observing, you can get really good results with the stock EPs. From my experience, letting the telescope cool down for plenty of time greatly increases the image quality you can see.

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[adarshajoisa]

Oh, and a few more things about the Astromaster 130EQ from my experience :

The provided tripod is extremely shaky. You'd be better off not extending the legs. Initially I used to keep the tripod fully extended so that I can stand and observe, but I realized that it's much stabler when it's not extended. Get a stool or a chair so that you can sit and observe. The tripod is far more stable, and you're far more comfortable that way. It makes life a lot easier.

Also, the red dot finder that comes with the telescope is a pain to use initially. I've heard a lot of people complain about it. The first time I tried observing with the Astromaster, I couldn't even find Jupiter. The next day I accurately aligned the red dot finder. Now I can easily locate objects in a minute or two. Also, get a few spare batteries for the finder. My finder's battery ran out a week after I bought the telescope. Now I keep a set of spare batteries.

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[bish]

I never actually tried them but BST or Celestron Xcel lx seem to be good value. Not perfect in f5 scopes but should be good. My maxvision 24mm is good in my 250px (about £60). Of course there are also high end Delos, Pentax XW etc if you are more of a perfectionist and want to spend £250+ each.

As far as focal lengths go, you don't need a whole range to start - although some will disagree. I tend to use 24mm, 12mm and 8mm most of the time. Perhaps you need a 7mm and decent barlow.

[John]

I've merged the two threads you have running on the same topic Dom1961. Less chance for confusion then !

[ronin]

Going to have to give an idea of budget per eyepiece.

The BST's are good and for the price excellent value, but is (effectively) £50 each acceptable?

Plossl's are less (usually) but ones like the Vixen's are £35 and so not overly far off of £50 and if eye relief is a factor then plossl's may be out of the running.

The term "inexpensive" is relative.

Then how many are you considering getting and over what period.

I bought my BST's 2 each month, was going to get one a month but got impatient. Bought 2 to see what they were like, (very nice) bought another 2, then decided to hell with it all and got the last 2.

May be worth considering using the 25mm you have and get an 8mm, then wait and watch the used side and pick up whatever you can when it turns up. But what you want will not appear because you want it, so accept that sitting and waiting is part of the game. Things will appear.

You say yours is f/5, but do not say 130P ?

The other 130 is f/7 (close to 7).

[damnut]

Hi There,

before you start purchasing new eps. there are a couple of guides you should take a peek at one is by The Warthog which can be found on SGL and the other is by R Wilkey  which is here ;--- http://www.swindonstargazers.com/beginners/eyepieces.htm  .

Good advice above the BST's are excellent value for money, gooe eye relief and an easy view with a twist up rubber eye cup. In the same bracket are the Celestron Excel eyepieces.  But do try your own, you mention a 3X barlow I hope I can persuade you not to buy that and buy a good 2X one if you must!! The higher the mag the darker and more limited your view becomes using a barlow.

A couple of pages worth a look :-- Just plug your scope data in and they do the work

http://www.12dstring.me.uk/fov.htm   (remember to switch to visual view)

http://www.stargazing.net/naa/scopemath.htm

[alan potts]

I think the best place to look is Secondhand at Astro Buy and Sell, you get some really good buys on there and here too but sadly you cannot use this section yet.

I would try for the Maxvision ranges as they are a cancelled order of Meade ranges costing well over 100 pounds per eyepiece a few years back, I know I bought most of them.

The Super Wide Angle or SWA for short come in, 16mm, 20mm and 24mm in 1.25 inch fitting and 28mm, 34mm, and 40mm in 2 inch sizes, the latter are fairly big and heavy and maybe not well suited to you scope though.

There was also an Ultra Wide Angle range with sizes starting as low as , 4.7mm 6.7mm 8.8mm 14mm and 18mm in the 1.25 inch size, the other two 24mm and 30mm are very large and way to heavy.

The other range that seems to get a daily mention on here are the BST eyepieces, these offer very good value I am told but I don't feel at F5 will be as good as the Maxvisions, however they also will not empty your pockets.

Alan

[LittleSkink]

if you don't wear glasses to observe the choice is pretty wide, but as others have said you might not need anything initially

As a newb (who does have to wear glasses) the foirst things I got were a long eye relief 9mm to use in place of the standard 10mm and a decent Barlow to get a range of focal lengths and then decide which I likes/used most

One thing I would suggest is a 2x Barlow with removable lens, you can add this to the thread on the bottom of your existing lens for a x1.5 magnification. I got a Revelation one from Astroboot quite cheaply

The other thing I have found more useful than I expected is a long focal length (wide angle) lens. The 40mm I got is too much but ready eyepiece threads on here a 32mm is often peoples most used lens 

[John]

....The other thing I have found more useful than I expected is a long focal length (wide angle) lens. The 40mm I got is too much but ready eyepiece threads on here a 32mm is often peoples most used lens 

Thats a very good point. A lot of newcomers to the hobby think that using a scope is all about how much magnification you can squeeze from it but a lot of viewing is done at low to medium magnfications.

[YKSE]

The other thing I have found more useful than I expected is a long focal length (wide angle) lens. The 40mm I got is too much but ready eyepiece threads on here a 32mm is often peoples most used lens 

That's a good point about understanding exit pupil size, for a f4 scope, a 32mm is on the wrong side of average max exit pupil of human eyes(7mm), while for f10 scopes not using focal reducer, a 40mm eyepiece is essential for viewing some objects(Horsehead and monkey head, e,g), and in f7.5 scope, 40mm is a very good for wide field view and extended DSO.

I think the best place to look is Secondhand at Astro Buy and Sell, you get some really good buys on there and here too but sadly you cannot use this section yet.

I would try for the Maxvision ranges as they are a cancelled order of Meade ranges costing well over 100 pounds per eyepiece a few years back, I know I bought most of them.

Alan

I can only second this suggestion, also I'd hope that Robin can update his eyepiece review with ES and MV eyepieces(they're essentially the same eyepieces),  from what we can read in this forum, ES eyepieces get very high praise by Robin.