Suitable eyepieces for 150-PDS?

[MartinFransson]

Hi! I have just bought a Sky-Watcher 150-PDS (750mm FL) and so far I only have the supplied 28mm 2" eyepiece. I'd like some more magnification. What would be usable EPs? 8mm? 4mm?

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[triton1]

Bst starguiders should be ok at f5 and 8mm would be fine if you can get them there.Alan at skies the limit on eBay sell them here for £49 but I think ts optics sell them under a different name.Maybe consider another ep in between the two.

[triton1]

Ts sell them as NED ep,s €94 .

[MartinFransson]

What is the maximum usable magnification for a scope like mine? 100x or more?

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[Purplehayze104]

ive manage to use a 6mm (125x) on my 150P model should think you may be able to get away with a 5mm, never barlowed my 6mm as only recently manage to get a stable platform to make use of it the old EQ3-2 was a wobbly ol girl

[YKSE]

Martin,

That depends a lot on what you want to observe.

For splitting very tight doubles stars, you can go as high as 3mm eyepiece, because you don't mind to see the diffractions rings from the stars, just to see the seperation, but this eyepice will be most likely used only in this purpose.

For observing fainter Messier galaxies in light polluted backyard, 10mm-18mm should be about the limit (2mm to 4mm exit pupil)

For open clusters or globula clusters, you can use higer magnifcations than galaxies as long as the object well frame in the field of view.

[MartinFransson]

I don't know really. Thought I'd show the kids some closeups of the moon and if it's possible maybe get a glimpse of Jupiter and Saturn. Myself, I'll probably watch Messier objects, pretty star clusters and such

My backyard is not all that light polluted. Maybe Bortle 5.

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[damnut]

The BST starguiders are excellent value for money and would suit your scope well.

The second question is the maximum useable mag, in theory the scope can cope with 300x  (2*diameter in mm). However your question is useable magnification  would be c150 - 200x. This would be greatly affected by the viewing conditions though.

[YKSE]

I don't know really. Thought I'd show the kids some closeups of the moon and if it's possible maybe get a glimpse of Jupiter and Saturn. Myself, I'll probably watch Messier objects, pretty star clusters and such

My backyard is not all that light polluted. Maybe Bortle 5.

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OK, I'd think the Baader zoom with dedicated barlow is the best option you have, together with the 28mm, you get all the range covered, a zoom is also very easy for kids to operate, just make sure that they don't poke the eye lens with their fingers.

[nightfisher]

when i had my 150p ds i mainly used circle T orthoscopics, i think a 15mm BST would be a handy one to have, and it would barlow to 7.5, but if you could find a 7mm ortho used and get a 15mm BST this would cover a lot of options

[stadaik]

OK, I'd think the Baader zoom with dedicated barlow is the best option you have, together with the 28mm, you get all the range covered, a zoom is also very easy for kids to operate, just make sure that they don't poke the eye lens with their fingers.

Hi there,

What YKSE said. Wise choice a zoom and a barlow

also you can follow this: f/5 your telescope?

your max eyepiece should be 7x. That is 35mm. 5x if you are aged. That gives 25mm

your main eyepiece should be 2x. Thats 10mm.

And your eyepiece for planet observing should be 1x. 5mm.

These all depends not only from your scope but also from your eye. You will find this info also in other sites, with more details and some equations.

[bish]

I've not tried BST's, but sound like a good bet from what I have heard. You need to use your scope with one or two eps to get a feel for what you need. For me eye relief is very important for comfort (I don't wear glasses either). I also push the mag a bit more than most because I'm not good at looking at very small bright objects.  Once you have spent a while under the stars and researched a bit you may end up changing again.

[Yearofthegoat]

If it helps I got a 3.2mm BST Starguider for my 150PDS, and looking at Saturn the past few weeks it has been large enough but fuzzy. I think this is mainly due to the weather / seeing, and that Saturn has been low in the sky. My reasoning is because Jupiter was pin sharp with the 3.2 back in Jan/Feb - but at the time it was about zero degrees and Jupiter was quite high in the sky. I guess Saturn is a bit fainter anyway too being further away? So, it clearly is possible to use the 3.2 with a 150PDS and get good (well, amazing really) results but everything has to be right it seems.

P.S. I found my scope was very slightly out of collimation so that might have worsened the view. I've corrected it so will be using the 3.2mm again next clear night and will see how it goes.