Better planetary views

[Googinhiem]

I recently bought an 8" skyline dob from orion. I love the scope but am wondering which eyepieces will give me the best planetary views. I realize a lot of this is dependent upon seeing conditions, but assuming conditions are excellent what will work best. There is such a selection for eyepieces it can be a little overwhelming. Any advice is appreciated, thank you. 

[nightfisher]

For planetary viewing orthoscopic ep`s tend to work very well, some of the best were the Baader genuine ortho but no longer available 

[ronin]

Seems to be f/6 so a little easier. Two aspects - what budget are you contemplating per eyepiece and where are you? Basically do I talk of UK eyepieces, US, European.

Presuming a simple step up from a plossl and not a step up to Delos. Delites. Nagler or Ethos the normal here are BST Starguider, however for planetary I suggest Celestron X-Cel LX's.

Reason for the Celestrons over the BST (Paradigms in the US) are the shorter steps between eyepieces at the shorter end. The X-Cels go as 5mm, 7mm, 9mm and 12mm.

Not sure about the 5mm, might work occasionally but you can get a William Optics 6mm planetary, or if UK an Altair 6mm Lightwave.

Going to leave cost of the eyepieces out as they change too much depending on the country you are in.

[Googinhiem]

As far as budget I don't want to break the bank but I would like something quality. 300$ eyepieces are not really an option for me. I guess I bought the telescope that has the most bang for my buck, which eyepieces would do the same?  

[paulastro]

In my view, the best way to improve the performance of any telescope for planetary and lunar observations is to use a binoviewer.  I've found over many years that a binoviewer (and you don't need an expensive one as long as it's in collimation) and a pair of virtually any eyepieces (you don't need exotics, plossls or orthoscopics are fine) will outperform ANY single eyepiece giving the same magnification in any type of telescope.  For your dob you would need to screw a barlow lens element into the nosepiece of the binoviewer so that focus could be achieved.

I've always found this to be the case, I've never come across any exception. 

Most people find this fairly unbelievable, until they try it out for themselves.  I'd love to take the credit for this, but the effect of using a binoviewer to improve planetary and lunar views is not a new one.  For example Henry E Paul mentioned it in his wonderful book 'Telescopes for Stargazing' published in 1965.

 

[mikeDnight]

You should consider trying a binoviewer along with a couple of cheap orthos. The binoviewer with a X2 Barlow screwed to its nose piece will allow you to use longer fl eyepieces, to attain high power. I've never seen a single eyepiece, no matter how high end, perform as well as cheap binoviewer with orthos or plossls on lunar and planetary.

You could get a cheaper end binoviewer and a pair of ortho's for the price of a single Pentax XW. No XW will match its performance!

Mike

[Moonshane]

If you can find them used Televue Radians.  maybe an 8mm or 6mm. 

Even cheaper a used Televue 15mm Plossl with a 2x Televue Barlow.  Ev en the best eyepieces will show planets at about the size of a chick peas at arms length.

[CraigT82]

Baader Classic Orthoscopics are the sharpest EP's I've used so far, and not too expensive either at about £50 a piece.

[dweller25]

Lot of good advice so far.

I would add that as you are using a Dobsonian for Planetary views and you will be at powers of x180 to x250, so a wide field of view eyepiece will reduce nudging.

I use x170 for Jupiter (7mm), x200 for Saturn (6mm) and x240 for Mars (5mm)

[Ricochet]

I tend to use a 7mm Celestron X-cel LX for planets in my 8" dob. 

[rockystar]

in a dob, I'd also suggest something with a wide field of view - explorer scientific 82 deg at $150 would be my choice.

but some good alternative suggestions above.