I need some help pick out accessories for my SkyQuest XT10 Dobsonian telescope

[alyssrae859]

I just purchased a Orion Skyquest XT10 Dobsonian telescope and I am waiting it's arrival. I am interested in viewing DSO's mostly but I also plan on doing some planetary and lunar viewing as well. I was wondering what barlow, filters, and eye piece sizes you recommended for doing so. I also wanted to if you recommended any particular brand because I do not want to purchase a poor quality item. The telescope comes with a 25 millimeter Plossl eyepiece, a 2 inch Crayford focuser, the 1.25- 2 inch adapter, EZ finder ll reflex sight, and collimation cap. Since I have the choice between 1.25 and 2 inches I was wondering which you think I should use. I also purchased a planetarium, 2 beginner's books, & a red LED light. If there are any accessories you think that I should purchase as well I would love to know. Thank you!

[kalasinman]

Looking at the kit, it comes with a 25mm EP which will yield 48x. I would think you must decide whether to proceed with individual EPs for each FL or use a good quality Barlow. If with a 2x Barlow, rounding off, your 25mm will give 50 and 100x, a 15mm will give 75x and 150x, and a 10mm 125x and 250x. In this way, buying 3 pieces results in you having a choice of 6 powers.

[glynnlondon]

Agree with kalasinman I have a Barlow but very rarely use it prefering single eps.

In all honesty I only really need 3 , you have a low power 25 mm already so maybe a medium power about 12mm and a planetary ep at 7 or 8mm.

Others tho may have other opinions equally valid.

As for other bits I know a lot of dob owners have telrad finders fitted maybe worth a look.

Some of the dob mob will be along presently I'm sure.

[glynnlondon]

Forgot to say would stick to 1.25 size for eyepieces cheaper in the long run.

2 inch I believe really only comes into its own with the low power wide field pieces like 30 mm etc.

All the best , nice scope by the way

[brantuk]

One cost effective option would be to get a nice wide field low power eyepiece in the 30mm-35mm range and a Baader zoom. This will give you a range of good quality focal lengths and magnifications that will cover most things you wish to observe and will satisfy for some time to come. Generally speaking, for wider views use 2" and for higher magnifications 1.25" is more than adequate - these scopes usually come with an adaptor or you can get one quite cheaply.

This combo kept me happy for a long time across several scopes whilst building up a range of fixed length pieces. Congrats - that's a very nice scope you have there and welcome to SGL.

[Qualia]

For general DSO viewing, I feel you don't need more than three eyepieces. For my 10" f5, for example, I typically observe and sketch with wide field (72º) eyepieces offering around 50x, 90x and 125x. Coupled to a decent Barlow (or Powermate), I've then got  50x, 90x, 100x, 125x, 180x and 250x which is suffice for most of my sessions viewing clusters, galaxies, nebulae, splitting binary stars and also for general lunar and planetary work.

If it took your fancy, for white light solar viewing the 50x will also be ideal and all you'll need to do this is purchase Baader's Visual Solar Film from somewhere like First Light Optics and make yourself a white light solar filter which is extremely effective and astro-terms, cheap.

If you decide later to really get into planetary and lunar observation with your 10", you will probably find that it helps to have a good run of high power eyepieces. Depending on the evening's seeing conditions, even the difference of just 1mm in focal length - about 10% to 15% difference of magnification - can be surprising. The good news here is that the eyepieces themselves do not need to be widefields, so you can buy cheaper Orthos and there's no hurry to build the collection all at once. Again, by way of example, in my own case if I fancy doing a bit of concentrated planetary, lunar, double stars or 'getting-in-there' observing of a deep sky object, I generally reach for a 5mm, 6mm, 7mm, 9mm and 12.5mm Orthos and an 8mm and 11mm Plossls. 

There's certainly no need to go spending loads of money to get decent eyepieces and on this account your best bet is to keep a watch on the secondhand market. Nevertheless, extracting budget from the equation and purely looking at some of  the most popular eyepiece options available the following seem to get rave reviews time and time again:

Tele Vue

Pentax

Vixen SLV

Orthoscopic like Baader's Genuine

Explore Scientific ES68, 80 and 100

Meade 5000 UWA

William Optics UWAN's

Skywatcher Nirvanas

X-Cels LXs

BSTs

I cannot comment on most of these eyepieces mentioned but at the end of the day, I feel it makes sense to not buy a load of eyepieces but instead, save for two really cracking, quality glass eyepieces, a decent low power eyepiece and Barlow or Powermate that will last you many years.

As far as accessories go, for purely visual enjoyment I have found the following a big help:

General Scope Gear

Red Circle Finder: Telrad/Rigel.

9x50 Right Angled Correct Image Finder.

Cheshire/Collimating tool.

Comfort & Ease

Ironing Chair.

Pocket Star Atlas.

Dim Red Torch.

Thermal Underwear/Down Jacket/Hat/Thick Glooves/Silky Bike Glooves/ Neck Scarf thing/Thick Soled Boots when winter kicks in.

Minimum Eyepiece Range

50x (good for solar and star hopping)

90x (good for most DSOs)

125x (good for many globs, galaxies, nebulae)

150x to 250x (good range for planets, Moon, 'easy' doubles, getting 'in-there' with globs etc).

Other Nice Bits

Sketching Gear.

Cool Music.

Water.

[Alexgopro]

Did you get your baby yet?!??!

Oh a lot of people recommend a decent pair of binocs, 7x50 or 10x50 I believe..

[peter69]

I have the same Orion XT 10

I use 4 ep's, An ES 30 mm 2" 70'series with the skywatcher coma corrector straight in.

A 2" Tal 24mm 80' with a 35mm extension and a badder coma corrector.

Two 1.25" ep's an ES 16mm and a WO 9mm 72'.

And a luminos 2.5x Barlow which I rarely use. All but the Barlow and the WO were bought second hand.

There's a big second hand market out there astrobuysell

The comas too me are a must for the low powered ep's, not everybody uses them though it's ones own personal preference.

I had many focusing issues at the start but I've kind of Sussed it now after spending money on unnecessary bits and pieces.

I mainly use the low powered ep's now for dso's.

Good luck mate with your xt10.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[jeffbogy67]

i often use a polarizing filter for lunar viewing or else go blind. lol  also because i live in a city i use a narrow band filter. i would suggest one of each