EP advice for Skywatcher 200p

[simona]

Hey guys, 

So i bought my first telescope about a year ago,  its a SkyWatcher 200p 8" f/5 on an EQ5 mount.  

Unfortunately i haven't taken it out as much as I'd have liked,  but i still LOVE looking through it. 

I've found the standard eyepieces severely lacking and it really takes away from my enjoyment (eg. I get excited about seeing a planet but then it just looks like a large yellow star, no detail whatsoever visible)....

My birthday is coming up,  and family have offered to buy me some eyepieces yay... budget would be no more than $300, aud, so probably about £150.

I've spent ages looking through guides and forums and suggestions but am still quite confused... I really want 2 eyepieces,  one for planetary and one for dso's (galaxies in particular)

From what I've gathered the 8mm BST starguider seems a good choice for planetary for my scope? Would you agree?

But I'm completely stumped on the dso front.  My scope can take 2" eps if that's a help.  I'm not sure if i should stick to bsts and get a 14mm (i think that's meant to be good for it?) But tbh all those calculations regarding pupil exit points and magnification and and field of view is just really overwhelming me.  

As you can tell,  my budget is super tight so id really like to be able to get 2 quality eyepieces and not waste the money only regretting my purchase and not being able to replace them for another year lol.

Thanks guys!! I really appreciate any help

[ronin]

Suggest sticking to the 1.25" format at this time. If you get a 2" then to swap eyepieces becomes a fair bit of work as you have to swap eyepieces and eyepiece adaptors. More time and more to go wrong.

With that I would stay with the Starguiders and go for the 8mm and maybe the 18mm. Not sure if the 25mm will add to the 18mm in what is delivered, the result would be wider but also smaller and the 18 will give a 1 degree view (approximate). How big is the LMC and SMC ??? Suggest you work out if a 1.5 degree view is more use.

They will say the 25mm is the "worst" of the bunch but I suppose one has to be, that doesn't mean it is bad. Also there are more problems as you go wider and the 25mm has the widest view at your eye. So it is a bit understandable tht the edge drop off a bit and are more noticable. My half set is 5mm, 8mm and 25mm and I have no problems with the 25mm.

Not sure the cost of the Starguiders in Aus, so some guesswork, since the exchange rate is not 1:1 I guess for A$150 2 eyepieces is the number. If they were very nice and went to 3 then 8mm, 12mm and the wide one - will stay with 18mm but I still half have the 25mm in mind. Suppose they is noone around you with the set so that you could try them out a bit?

For alternatives there are the Celestron X-Cel LX's. Here in the UK they are about £10-12 more, in the US they are $1-2 more, so again no idea what the Aus pricing is like. Means here they are a fair bit more whereas in the US they are about identical.

If later you want more in the way of magnification try the WO 6mm planetary. The jump 8mm to 5mm may mean that the 5mm is a bit too much at times whereas the WO 6mm just allows a bit more usability. The 6mm WO is around under alternative names/brands, Altair here, so can be a bit less cost then the WO offering.

[ronl]

I totally agree with ronin, I use BST Starguiders and I am very happy with them all, they might not

suit everyone but for me they give great views and are very comfortable to use, the twist up eye cup 

stops blackouts too, just twist it up until you find your comfort zone, I also use the William Optics 6 mm

for planets, the 5 mm BST can be to much sometimes, unless the seeing is really good, as I have said, I

am very happy with the BST's I'm sure you will be too, the 8 mm and the 18 mm will be a good start, but

like me you will want more.

Clear Sky's

[xyz]

Moon and planets - 5mm Baader Hyperion. Other targets I use either an 18mm Celestron X-Cel LX or a generic (but good) 32mm Plossl.

[John]

I agree with the comments above re: the BST Starguiders. For their price they work very well indeed and show views that compete with more expensive eyepieces.

I'd not advocate Hyperions in an F/5 scope though. They are not well enough corrected in the outer field of view for my taste wheras the less expensive BST Starguiders do pretty well even around F/5. The Celestron X-Cell LX's seem to perform similarly to the BST Starguiders.

Getting a good 2" eyepiece for your budget that will perform well in an F/5 is a tough proposition so sticking with the 1.25" format might be a wise move at present.

 

[Ricochet]

I don't think that an 8mm is really short enough for a planetary eyepiece as it only gives 125X in your scope. Assuming your skies aren't better than mine I would aim for 150-200X which equates to 5 - 6.7mm, so say 5-7mm. The Starguiders only have a 5mm in this range which may or may not be fine most nights in (your part of) Australia. Dropping down to a 6mm like the WO suggested above might be a safer bet or you might want to plan that you eventually acquire a set of Celestron X-Cel LX's  and start now with a 7mm as a present and keep an eye on the second hand market for a 5mm.

The optimum exit pupil for small DSO's is 2.4mm which in your f/5 scope equates to a 12mm eyepiece, which is available in both the Starguider and X-Cel LX lines so I would recommend you get one of these as your second eyepiece. The 12mm Starguider is also pretty much parfocal with the 7mm X-Cel LX if you want to mix and match (the X-Cel LX line are designed to be parfocal, the Starguiders are not). A 12mm and 2X Barlow would also give you the same performance as a 6mm if you want to consider adding a Barlow to increase your options.

The 25mm that came with your scope is reportedly of reasonable quality so at this stage I would plan to keep using that for your low power views so that you have a set of 6/7,12 and 25mm. When finances allow it you could upgrade to an 18/25mm from either the Starguider or X-Cel LX ranges or even switch to Plossls at the longer focal lengths where their eye relief is reasonable.