Celestron X-Cel LX

[1CM69]

While perusing Celestron's site I stumbled on the eyepiece section & was quite taken by the write up on the X-Cel LX range of EPs so I decided to purchase a couple a 5mm & 25mm, they arrived just now and I'm equally impressed with the build & feel of them. 

Can't wait to give them a tryout, that'll be the true test. 

[cloudsweeper]

I've got the 5, 12, and 18mm in this series - 60 degree fields, look and feel good, perform well.  Enjoy!

Doug.

[1CM69]

7 minutes ago, cloudsweeper said:

I've got the 5, 12, and 18mm in this series - 60 degree fields, look and feel good, perform well.  Enjoy!

Doug.

I pretty sure I'll be going for the 12 & 18 as well. 

Pity they don't make a 60 or 70 cos I'd like to view Albireo double with a little less deprecation than with my current 40mm EP

[John]

60mm or 70mm eyepieces are really not much use in astronomy so are rarely found outside of large observatories.

The longest focal length eyepieces that are regularly useful are 40mm - 50mm and in those you really need to go for the 2" fitting to get the benefits of the wide / low power field that they can deliver.

Anything longer than around 32mm in the 1.25" fitting shows a rather constrained, field width due to the limitations of the smaller barrel size.

Albireo should look stunning in virtually all eyepiece focal lengths.

 

[1CM69]

6 minutes ago, John said:

60mm or 70mm eyepieces are really not much use in astronomy so are rarely found outside of large observatories.

The longest focal length eyepieces that are regularly useful are 40mm - 50mm and in those you really need to go for the 2" fitting to get the benefits of the wide / low power field that they can deliver.

Anything longer than around 32mm in the 1.25" fitting shows a rather constrained, field width due to the limitations of the smaller barrel size.

Albireo should look stunning in virtually all eyepiece focal lengths.

 

Oh yes, Albireo does look stunning, I was just wondering if there was a way to view it with less separation than I currently get using 40mm

The image here towards the bottom of the page shows approx my view with quite a bit of separation: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albireo

This next image shows less separation, something I'd like to achieve:

https://writescience.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/albireo.jpg

[Roy Challen]

8 minutes ago, 1CM69 said:

Oh yes, Albireo does look stunning, I was just wondering if there was a way to view it with less separation than I currently get using 40mm

You could try binoculars. 10x50s will split Albireo if held securely.

[N3ptune]

I have the 25, the 18, I like them both very much with 60 degrees. For the price, they provide a clean field of view on my fast F5 Newtonian with pinpoint stars from then center to the edge. The 18mm is especially comfortable, it's my favorite. They also go along very well with the Xcel-LX Barlow 2x which is also great for the price! They do the job very well.

The down side, has my experience with my 5mm, they are not well sealed for dust, the bottom can be unscrewed easily for no good reasons. On my 5mm I tried to remove a few specks of dust that were annoying me while watching the moon (on the bottom part) I scraped the eyepiece putting at least 200x the amount of dust inside.

I strongly suggest you don't unscrew the bottom at all, to prevent a really sad day.

Otherwise, I love them

(:

 

 

[N3ptune]

https://writescience.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/albireo.jpg

 This looks like an image at high power like 200x.

[John]

36 minutes ago, 1CM69 said:

Oh yes, Albireo does look stunning, I was just wondering if there was a way to view it with less separation than I currently get using 40mm

The image here towards the bottom of the page shows approx my view with quite a bit of separation: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albireo

This next image shows less separation, something I'd like to achieve:

https://writescience.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/albireo.jpg

The 2nd image has bloated star images with diffraction spikes so it's not really what we will see through an SCT or refractor scope. With a scope the star images are much tighter than that.

There are coloured double stars that are closer together such as the wonderful Almach in Andromeda.

If you like diffraction spikes then a newtonian will make you happy !

 

[cloudsweeper]

1 hour ago, 1CM69 said:

I pretty sure I'll be going for the 12 & 18 as well. 

Pity they don't make a 60 or 70 cos I'd like to view Albireo double with a little less deprecation than with my current 40mm EP

As John says, the lowest mag you'll get will be from a 2 inch EP with focal length up to 50mm.  I have the 50, 42, and 30mm in Revelation Astro Superview - inexpensive and decent EPs.  The longest FLs of course give more true field of view, which is always nice, especially in a long focal length telescope.

The 50mm with your 'scope would give about x47 mag and a TFOV of about 1.28 degrees.  (Eye Relief and Exit Pupil are further matters for another time!)

Doug.

[1CM69]

58 minutes ago, cloudsweeper said:

As John says, the lowest mag you'll get will be from a 2 inch EP with focal length up to 50mm.  I have the 50, 42, and 30mm in Revelation Astro Superview - inexpensive and decent EPs.  The longest FLs of course give more true field of view, which is always nice, especially in a long focal length telescope.

The 50mm with your 'scope would give about x47 mag and a TFOV of about 1.28 degrees.  (Eye Relief and Exit Pupil are further matters for another time!)

Doug.

Thanks for the info guys. 

Just seen in one of my post the word 'deprecation' I meant separation, darn auto correct ?

[ronin]

Russell Optics in the US do a 50mm 1.25" plossl eyepiece. Think they used to do a 53mm and/or a 56mm.

http://www.russell-optics.com/quarter_inch.html

Last item on the page, not sure about shipping to the UK.

[1CM69]

22 minutes ago, ronin said:

Russell Optics in the US do a 50mm 1.25" plossl eyepiece. Think they used to do a 53mm and/or a 56mm.

http://www.russell-optics.com/quarter_inch.html

Last item on the page, not sure about shipping to the UK.

Fantastic, thanks. Cheap too