Skywatcher skyliner 250 help please.

[Floater]

Ryan, you are now in territory where your head will be fried.

If I recall, I did warn you about this way, way back?

Just search through the threads on SGL, regarding 'which eyepiece ...?' to see what I mean. But beware, you'll trip over skeletons, demented minds and the banshee screeching of tormented and driven souls! And the blasted, riven land is festooned with the tattered remains of cheque books, wallets and cash cards. Ochone! Doom lies there ...

p.s. Congrats on picking up a nice scope. :-))

[Zigzag79]

Thank-you floater I am starting to see that but what a great hobby wish I'd started sooner. On the plus side I'm still young and my eyes are good for a few years yet so plenty of time to work up to these holy grail of eyepieces...!

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[Paulb3098]

I have the maxivision 34mm 2" (slight too much eye relief but great fun), 24mm, and Meade 16mm (which is the same) and in MHO they are great EP's for the price. You can pick up the 24mm for £69.

[Gazabone]

Hi Gazabone I did notice some of these on ebay and was gonna ask if anyone had any experience with them.

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Hi,

I'm assuming you're asking about the Baadar Hyperion ep. I have the 24, 17, 13, 10 and 8 mm in my collection. They all work beautifully in my 250. Views are nice, bright and crisp.

Happy viewing

[astronymonkey]

Hi zig zag,

Well done on a great purchase , these are considered to be a very good mix of decent aperture and useability.

As for eyepieces there are a few basics to consider before splashing the cash and these may determine some of the parameters in which you may want to stay.

Magnification - as the maximum mag which is usuable in uk skies is around 300x this would mean an eyepiece of 4mm being the limit of your high power range. Exit puil though woukd be below 1mm though which can increase the risk of seeing floaters so 5mm and 240x might be a better option.

As for low power, this will probably be limited by the exit pupil of the eyepiece/scope combination and under suburban skies I tend to think as 6mm being the max my own pupil will dilate so with an f4.7 scope a 6mm exit pupil occurs with approx 28mm eyepiece.... anything bigger means the light coming from the eyepiece is wider than your pupil so some of the effective aperture of the scope is lost. Going bigger can give low power views though which can be used as a finder eyepiece.

So with this in mind 5mm to 28mm is the range you are after and a 28mm 68degree eyepiece will easily frame most extended targets such as the orion nebula which is about 1 degree across and the eyepiece gives about 1.5 dgerees.

Eye relief - next to consider is eye relief and this is how close you need to be to the eyepiece to see the image. A long eye relief above 15mm is more comfortable and is suitable if you wear glasses otherwise this isnt too much of an issue.

Wide field or not? The wider the field the dearer things get and basically this shows a wider chunk of sky for the same magnification but you can effectively increase the magnification whilst still having a wide field view ... this way you can sometimes replace two eyepeices with one.

So to keep the cost reasonable id be looking at a 68degree eyepeice at about 28mm for widefield or maybe a 82degree second hand if the budget allows. Second hand is a good though as you will pay maybe 50-70% of the new price depending on brand and in good condition with box and end caps and you will lose hardly anything if you resell.

Some eyepieces are better at handling fast scopes with a low f ratio , and at f4.7 you are in this zone , so if you post any thoughts you have here then im sure you will get advice on their suitability in your scope.

Cheers

[Zigzag79]

Thanks astronymonkey very detailed advice much appreciated. When I get a chance I'll start scouring the Internet for some bargains. In the mean time if anyone has or comes across an eyepiece or pieces that fit the bill would be greatful for a heads up thanks again everyone...

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[AndyWB]

Sorry, bit late, but +1 for the 28mm Maxvision, and I absolutely wouldn't go for the 24mm Hyperion in the f4.7 scope. I've tried them both in my 250px, and the Maxvision is vastly, vastly better. They hyperions (at 5, 10, 17 and 24mm) all showed distortion across a lot of the field of view. (The maxvisions show a little, near the edge, but it's much less and not so disturbing)

I wonder, Gazabone might have a corrector in?

[Zigzag79]

Hi Andy do they work well with a Barlow. Just thinking if I buy one then use a Barlow with it I could cover low and medium mag thanks Ryan

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[Indibush]

I asked this same question about a month back. Most people told me to go for a ES 24mm 68 degree. These are now on special offer, just £69. I just got mine yesterday ( they've been out of stock) so not had chance to try it yet, but it looks beautiful quality. I got mine from Green Witch, but a few other places have them at this price.

I was also told to avoid the Hyperion EP's, someone else tried them in a 250PX, and they blurred round the edges.

What ever you choose, good luck and clear skies [emoji437][emoji437][emoji437]

Tony.

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[Zigzag79]

Hi Tony so what's the difference between these and the maxvision ones.? There both the same price thanks Ryan

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[Indibush]

Iv no experience with the Maxvision ones. Iv heard good things about them. I went for the Explore Scientific cos that's what most people recommended, including those who have a 250PX.

Also, for a high power, I went for a Vixen VSL 9mm. Also on people's recommendations. This works great, but remember, you don't get the same magnification as you do in a slower scope. I was viewing Mars the other morning, and it was just a tiny orange speck, but it's not well placed at the moment. But for DSO's, you've got a great scope. It doesn't stop blowing my mind.

Tony.

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[Indibush]

I just got mine yesterday.

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[Zigzag79]

Yeah I've just been looking and I think I may take the plunge. Just interested to know if these are an updated version of the maxvision or different. I've posted another post to see if anyone can shed some light. I bet you can't wait to try it out?

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[Indibush]

Yeah, I can't wait. I work nights, so can only get out at weekends. It can be frustrating when it's clear all week, then it gets to the weekend and it's like all the clouds have been waiting.

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[AndyWB]

Hi Andy do they work well with a Barlow. Just thinking if I buy one then use a Barlow with it I could cover low and medium mag thanks Ryan

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Well, I don't really use barlows, and I wouldn't want to HAVE to use one with a particular eyepiece. I'd skip them, to be honest, in the 250px. (The only reason I've even got the Hyperions for the Equinox 80 is that I won them. If I was kitting out the scope myself, I'd look at the Maxvisions or ES 68s.) 

And for high power, I also use a Vixen SLV (though the 6mm) for x200. Lovely eyepiece.

[Indibush]

That's good to hear about the 6mm Andy. I was told not to get a too powerful one, I think the quote was "a wild pony to ride" haha. But we always would like a bit more magnification. Maybe a bit further down the line, I need some filters next.

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[Zigzag79]

Same here Tony. Seen anything of interest..? Another area I need to ask about lol I did see some skywatcher ones on ebay for a tenner but have no idea if any good..?

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[Indibush]

If seen some fantastic things. My favourite and most remote is M51, the whirlpool Galaxy. You can actually see the 2 galaxies colliding. That's 26 million light years away, which to me is mind blowing. Some of the more experienced ones reading this will be yawning at that haha, but the more you learn, the more you see.

I'm not sure about £10 EP's. There probably not much better than the ones you got with it. Someone said to me, quality not quantity. It's better to get one good one that will serve you well. But see what others think on that.

Tony.

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[Dave In Vermont]

If seen some fantastic things. My favourite and most remote is M51, the whirlpool Galaxy. You can actually see the 2 galaxies colliding. That's 26 million light years away, which to me is mind blowing. Some of the more experienced ones reading this will be yawning at that haha, but the more you learn, the more you see.

I'm not sure about £10 EP's. There probably not much better than the ones you got with it. Someone said to me, quality not quantity. It's better to get one good one that will serve you well. But see what others think on that.

Tony.

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"Some of the more experienced ones reading this will be yawning at that haha, but the more you learn, the more you see."

Nope - guess again! It's always 'mind blowing.' You'll still be trying to wrap your head around this 25 years from now. Then you reflect on what was happening then on this planet. People were still an un-hatched strand of not-as-yet completed desoxyribonucleic acid learning how to swim. Any plants were likely still ferns. And I'd still have to check my books on the stage of evolution dinosaurs were at!

So I'm still trying to tuck away what all was going on 26 million years ago - how could 25 years later this evoke a 'yawn?'

Ook!

Dave

[Paul73]

Agreed, M51 on a clear dark night is always mind-bending. The yawn is likely to be caused by being up all night hunting down faint fuzzies (but always ending the session with M51 or the like).

If that floats your boat. Spend a bit more on 70° ish eyepieces so that you can get the Three Bodes galaxies in the same FOV. Same goes for the Leo a triplet of galaxies. And, don't get me started on the Markarian chain, Cacoon pair, Etc etc.......

For me, the eyepiece that showed me all this was the MaxVision 68° 24mm (the ES version would do the job as well).

Paul

Ps. Have a look at the splendidly named "Arp's Catalogue of Peculiar Galaxies" http://arpgalaxy.com. Mostly too faint, but there are some incredible things up there.

[Zigzag79]

Maxivision were out of stock so gone for the argon filled es series should be delivered tomorrow can't wait..! Very curious to see how much difference there is between the standard skywatcher Ep's which came with the scope and this one...!

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[Paul73]

Enjoy. It will be an improvement but you will only see the full benifit when the moon is out of the way.

Paul

[Zigzag79]

Thanks Paul, Would it be worth getting a filter do they make a great deal of difference..?

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[Paul73]

Nothing can really protect against moonlight. We forget that it is starlight reflected off a big rock.

Your best bet is to site your scope in deep shaddow and observe targets which are well away from the moon.

Otherwise an OIII and a UHC in that order. They really help on the nebulas.

Paul

[AndyWB]

Thanks Paul, Would it be worth getting a filter do they make a great deal of difference..?

Yeah, you can't use a filter for moonlight (or galaxies) - but for emission and planetary nebulae, it can help. Things like the Swan Nebula, Orion Nebula, North America Nebula and Veil Nebula can really benefit from them. However, the biggest improvement is clear, dark skies.

I wouldn't rush for filters. But Paul is right - OIII and then UHC.