HR2 part 2

[jetstream]

I'm not sure where to post this one as it is part lunar observing,part telescope review but for sure a report on the HR2 2.4mm. The seeing was fantastic with very steady skies and I should have had the 15" out. However...

I had tested this little Heritage 130mm out previously in town and briefly went up to 216x (Nagler 3-6 zoom) on lunar and relatively sharp, with some minor rooftop thermals happening. A very good sign really and I have wanted to test the HR2 2.4mm out in the f5 130mm- this scope just "shouldn't" take this kind of mag. But it does and sharp- an astounding 271x! and at a .48mm exit pupil right near the limit of good eye resolution. The image started to dim but not near as much as the f7.5 SW120ED.

So I guess a "good" refractor can go near 100x aperture- well at 375x and 80x aperture the SW120ED/HR2/stock SW diagonal gave an extremely good, sharp and DIM view along the terminator. I am amazed at this combination and its lack of scatter and sharp detail. The .32mm exit pupil works but is too dim for me personally and at this level there is a good chance the eye is going to limit detail seen.

I'm getting a handle on the Vixen HR2 2.4mm now- one of its forte's is high power lunar in f6 or faster (short fl) scopes and good seeing is needed. You must pick your max mag and have or get a scope that will allow this mag at a reasonable exit pupil. This eyepiece really worked well in the 130mm Heritage dob optically.

I"m still shocked that a Heritage 130mm dob can take this kind of mag!!

ps many eyepieces were tried and the 4mm UO volcano top gave superb, contrasted bright views at 162x and my favorite .8mm exit pupil.

[estwing]

Nice read Gerry and very interesting...those dobs just keep on giving! ...clear skies!

[John]

Great stuff Gerry !

I've looked through a few Heritage dobs and the optics in them do seem to be very good indeed - a true bargain really

 

[Stu]

Sounds like a great eyepiece Gerry, glad it lived up to expectations. Definitely designed for faster/shorter focal length scopes.

[jetstream]

6 hours ago, estwing said:

Nice read Gerry and very interesting...those dobs just keep on giving! ...clear skies!

Thanks Calvin, I can't fathom how this little newt can give at least the same detail amount and sharpness as the SW120ED. The orthos bring both of these scopes alive. The newts seems to have a cleaner, more pure tone on the moon-stark black and white, where the fracs seem more prone to color caste regardless of the EP's used with the 120mm doublet more so than the 90mm APO triplet- this gives a pretty wicked view of the moon for its aperture. The "coolest" tone eyepieces work best for me in the fracs on the moon.

I consider newts the purest form of apochromatic scope out there!

[estwing]

I confess to dreaming last night about observing at sunshine village and you were there!...I'll leave it there now, they're coming to take me away ha ha!

[Piero]

Nice report Gerry.  

It's great that an introductory telescope like the Heritage 130mm works so well. It makes a lovely gift for people who are just coming into this hobby without needing to spend a fortune. 

Regarding the HR2.4mm, I am looking forward to getting mine next week. 

 

@VIXEN: 5mm and 3.5mm focal lengths of this cracking HR eyepiece would be very much appreciated!! 

[Pig]

Great post young Gerry  it sounds like you had quite a few surprises..... fantastic.

[Piero]

My 2.4mm arrived yesterday and i just tried it for half an hour on Jupiter and the moon with my tv60. 

This eyepiece is outstanding!

The seeing was okay but nothing great. Jupiter's moons were pure little dots. A few irregularities were also detectable on the main belts and polar regions. I look forward to trying it on an evening with good / excellent seeing.

The Moon tint was just neutral and..How crisp its features were.. 

I added the Baader VIP. Only 1.5x as i forgot the spacers in my bedroom. Using this 1.6mm at 225x, the Moon was still in a very good shape. Tiny details here and there were still precisely represented by this little surgeon eyepiece. And the image was far brighter than what i expected. 

I then pointed at Jupiter. This is a lot of mag for this planet for a 60mm telescope and average seeing. Still i could easily spot the polar regions and with some effort detect irregularities on the equatorial belts.

Light scatter was basically absent to my eye. Same for aberrations or distortions.

This is surely one of the best eyepieces I have looked through.

 

P.s. there is a thread over here where we discussed about these three new Vixen HR eyepieces. At the time I expressed my concern about their usability with a short tube. Well.. I was clearly wrong. This eyepiece works extremely well on a short telescope like the tv60 and I bet also on very fast telescopes like the Vixen 200 F4 for which they were initially intended for.

[John]

Nice report Piero

My shortest FL scope is the 663mm 102mm ED Vixen. 276x is a wee bit too much for that one. In the Tak FC-100DL and the ED120 I'd get 375x. Usable at times but more often, not, I suspect

Hey Vixen !!! - please, please, please produce these in 3mm, 4mm, 5mm and 6mm focal lengths

 

[jetstream]

4 hours ago, Piero said:

This is surely one of the best eyepieces I have looked through.

I'm outside obs and with the best seeing so far since I moved into the sticks... the binos/15" were out and a very sharp 335x mag was being enjoyed when I popped back in to check SGL and saw some more replies on the HR2. As I sat here reading Pieros excellent report it dawned on me- what am I doing!! Instead of dreaming about higher mag bino eyepieces I should have the 2.4mm HR2 out in the 15"!

OK here goes- no BS- the f4.8 1828 fl 15" cooled and collimated to an inch of its life and with the 2.4mm HR2 gave 762x extremely sharp! No scatter and what a view as the moon flies through the narrow FOV. This is the best my 15" has performed, besting the Zeiss zoom/VIP and the Docter 12.5mm/VIP for a max sharp view of around 550X.

Great report Piero and I'm glad I read it and put the 15" to the test with the HR2!

This is the best eyepiece I own.

 

ps this Astrosystems scope/Ostahowski 15" is the best scope I own.

[Piero]

You can definitely take advantage of your great seeing with this superb eyepiece, Gerry.

I'd buy a 3.5mm and 5mm right now if they were available.

Another thing to add is that this eyepiece, although not really suitable for spectacles wearers, it's very very comfortable. The eye relief, eye rubber, and eye placement are exactly thought, at least with my face they are perfect.

Fantastic one!

[jetstream]

Another great night of seeing here. The 90mm is taking the 2.4mm very easily and with the VIP barlow @ 1.5x for 394x there is zero image breakdown and is still sharp. This Stellarvue APO triplet could handle the next size HR2 easily (with this seeing). The Baader/Zeiss diag is an asset in this scope.

The little 90mm has now proven itself unbelievably well at 111x aperture in inches. I never thought this scope was capable of this. Thanks to MikeDnight for the inspiration to try...

 

[Piero]

Same for me last night, Gerry. VIP 1.5x + HR2.4mm on my TV60 and the image is still sharp (and bright!).

To start seeing some image softness, I have to configure the VIP at more than 2x, basically placing the VIP 2x before the diagonal. I haven't calculated the additional space introduced by the diagonal, so this might work something between 2.3x and 2.6x. 

So.. yes, at around 150x/inch aperture, my TV60 delivers a bit soft images with this HR 2.4mm. Floaters were a problem and the image was about as dim as when I used my Nagler T6 3.5mm with the Powermate 2.5x or Bresser SA 2x.

Still, fine details at the base of craters were visible as well as the rim on many crater tips. No distortion or colour was visible in any area of the field. It was just that the shift between dark and bright areas on the moon was not as well defined and marked as it was at under 300x (1.2mm using the VIP 2x).

 

Testing these things with a short telescope is interesting because one can really push the magnifications without requiring an outstanding seeing.