A good wide angle EP for ST80

[Wardr77]

Hello All

Just purchased a small Meade 80mm F5 travel scope and in all but colour appears very similar to the ST80. 

My viewing preference is the wide apparent FOV you can get with the large 2" 82deg+ EPs but with this little un' at 1.25" that's not really possible, so just wondered what EP options there are out that would to some degree fulfil this requirement? My current thinking is the ES 68deg 24mm but maybe there are others?

Many thanks

Rob

[John]

I think the 24mm 68's will show about as much sky as the 1.25" fitting will show. Alternatives would include the Meade UWA 18mm 82 degree if you want a wider apparent field but the true field will be the same as a 24mm 68 degree EP. You want decent quality to avoid eyepiece astigmatism at F/5 so the ES ones and probably around the best balance of value v's edge performance. The next step would be a Panoptic 24mm I reckon but the cost jumps up a lot there.

Someone did put a 2" focuser into an ST80 refractor once then you can really go wide with a captial "W"

 

[brantuk]

Do a search for DaveinVermont - he's pimped his ST80 up very nicely and will have loads of ideas for you.  I think he may have added a new focuser so worth pm'in him for a chat about it.

[Wardr77]

Thanks for the replies, I did wonder about the 18mm 82 degree option, but was a little concerned about the additional magnification dimming the image.

thanks again

[John]

1 hour ago, Wardr77 said:

Thanks for the replies, I did wonder about the 18mm 82 degree option, but was a little concerned about the additional magnification dimming the image.

thanks again

Depending on your skies, you might find that deep sky objects look better at the higher magnfication that 18mm gives you. Higher magnification tends to darken the background sky a little as well as increasing the image scale of the object being viewed. If you have some light pollution to contend with this can improve the views of DSO's noticeably and the wider apparent field means that you are still seeing as much sky.

 

[Dave In Vermont]

On 5/13/2016 at 13:18, brantuk said:

Do a search for DaveinVermont - he's pimped his ST80 up very nicely and will have loads of ideas for you.  I think he may have added a new focuser so worth pm'in him for a chat about it.

Boo!

I did indeed. I put a 2" GSO Crayford-Focuser with dual-speed 10:1 focusing on it. Cost me more than the whole scope did. But I love it. And I've fed it glass of every description by way of eyepieces. It's not picky in the least. And these little F/5's give a very wide field-of-view in the first place. Couple that with a SWA 70° 38mm eyepiece, and it's truly wonderful! My only caveat with these scopes is don't buy one if you're looking for high-powered planetary views. That's not where they excel. Wide swaths of our galaxy? Absolutely!

Hope this helps -

Dave

 

[Wardr77]

Hi Dave, 

Yes just to be used for galaxy sweeping while the biggun is slewing to its next target or taking photos. Although I do short exposure AP with my LX90 12, I did notice that I found myself inside the house watching the telly while the scope was doing its thing under wonderfully clear skies, which struck me as a bit odd, so I bought the meade 80mm; and yesterday I got the ES68 24 to go with it.

regards,

Rob