Hyperion eyepiece verses plossl

[Dean]

I am thinking about buying a baader Hyperion 21mm eyepiece to add to my set of eyepieces I have sizes 6mm 9mm 12mm 15mm 20mm 32mm and 10mm and 25mm super plossl, which came with my scope. What improvements will I gain with the Hyperion?

[GazOC]

Hi Dean,

What scope have you got? The main pluses for Hyperions are the wider field of view, the better eye relief and the fact they are decent in short focal ratio scopes. The 21mm isn't as wide as advertised its 60 deg rather than 67 deg, so you would be better off with either the 17mm or the 24mm which are both the true 68 deg IMHO. The 17mm will give you the same field of view as the 21 but with the added magnification or the 24mm will give the largest field of view you can get in a 1.25" eyepiece but that would make your 30mm Plossl a little redundant.

gaz

[Dean]

Hi Gaz,

I have a skyliner 300p and was thinking of getting a 21mm to use with an x2 Barlow for globular clusters. Do you think that is a good choice?

[GazOC]

I'd get the 17mm it'll give you ~x170 with the Barlow which is a very good mag for globular clusters. Enough to show them well but not so much that you won't be able to use it when the conditions arn't the best and you'll still get the same FOV the 21mm would have given you, so its an easy choice really IMHO.

[Dean]

Thanks Gaz for the advice sounds like the 17mm is the one.

[Macavity]

Indeed so. (I avoided the 21, second time around) Another thought, especially with the 17mm: As the shortest, "normal" Hyperion, it's the most(?) ameanable to using / trying the "Extension Tubes" (which see). You could then get SOME impression what it might be like to look through shorter (13, [11], [9]) focal length "virtual" Hyperions. Warning: Hyperions can be addictive though...

[jgs001]

I second Chris' warning, They can be very addictive, but personally, I think they are very good.