A recommended EP for Jupiter/Saturn - Orion XT8

[zeroprobe]

I'm lost in eyepieces at the moment.

My main aims are to view Jupiter and Saturn. I bought some very cheap eyepieces to get an idea of the zoom levels when viewing Jupiter. The 10mm seemed to perform good, where as the cheap 6mm was very hard to see due to bad eye relief I guess.

Would a good quality 5-6mm be best for these planets with my XT8 telescope in the UK? I have also been looking into zoom lenses.

Anyone with a similar set up or have a recommended eyepiece for the job. Thanks.

[rockystar]

I've got the Morpheus 6.5 mm in my 8" dob; the views of Jupiter through it are excellent, great eye-relief and wide field (76º) - so it doesn't drift out of view so quickly - this gives me about x185 Mag, which I think is about the best for Jupiter, it doesn't take an excess of magnification very well.

I haven't tried Saturn yet.

Do you have a budget in mind? The Morpheus are not the cheapest, but they're not Tele Vue prices. There are cheaper options that will fit, but it will be a case of choose 2 from: Wide-Field, Eye-Relief, Cost.

 

[knobby]

A 7 mm Exel LX or BST 8 mm would  be good and quite reasonable 

[ronin]

If you get a clear decent image then anything that does Saturn will therefore do Jupiter - it is bigger to start with.

Have found in the past that 125x for Saturn was fairly nice, although that was through a refractor. So using 125x (ish) and I think your scope is 1200mm focal length which implies a 10mm. You should get 150x from the scope which is 8mm.

Oddly I don't know of a 10mm that gets mentioned - there will be some, just not aware of them - so the 8mm BST appears a fair option for 150x.

If you wanted to try for 200x then the William Optics 6mm planetary, which is I suspect that same as the Altair Astro Lightwave 6mm which is £55 or £45 (depends where you get it from). I would go for the 8mm or 10mm first, as if the 6mm is too much then you do not see anything more then now.

If the scope is 1000mm then ignore most but I would then suggest the 8mm BST as the first option.

[John]

Another vote for the 8mm BST Explorer / Starguider here. For around £50 it's difficult to better these. There is a 5mm in the range but 240x is usually a bit much for Jupiter with an 8" scope. Decent for Saturn or Mars though.

[zeroprobe]

Thanks for the suggestions, I've ordered the Altair Lightwave 6mm.

Will give this a try as I think Saturn will need that little extra magnification.

So many eyepieces to choose from.